Soaring Crane
by Ibookster
Summary: Thomas Crane may be the most unlucky boy that ever there has been. Join in as he struggles his way through being betrayed by his only family, trying to redeem himself for his past, looking for who and what he is and searching for wherever he may belong in the universe. This is a reboot of my story Green to Go.
1. Chapter 1: The First Mission

**AN:** In honor of Young Justice getting confirmed for a season 3, here's a new take on Thomas Crane's story. At this point I am just rebooting this story. I've explained better in the latest update of Green To Go, but moving forward, I am retconing a lot of this story as you will see. For now, I hope you enjoy.

 **DISCLAIMER:** Young Justice is a product of Warner Brothers and Netflix.

* * *

 **|LONDON  
|October 17, 19:24 UTC 2010**

"Scientists are still debating the long term effects of the devastation at America's Yellowstone National Park last week. While the initial damage was contained thanks to the Justice League, local scientist still are investigating what caused such an event to be triggered-" The news woman spoke.

The night was cold and blistery, as mid autumn always is in London. People bustled about in a hurry, trying to get out of the cold. No one noticed me standing in front of a window display of an electronics store, across the street from a Wayne Industries building, as they showed some major news station. This was only my second time in London so I wasn't familiar with any of the channels or the news people. Then again, I never stayed anywhere long enough to become familiar with anything. Anything other than blending in that is, that was all too familiar to me. Even as I stood there watching as everyone else walked from their normal lives, into my path, and back to their normal lives no one noticed me. They all had no idea that I existed. Then again, I didn't. Not in any way that mattered. They could just go home at the end of the day. They would never know how much I envied them, nor could they ever.

The wind picked up a bit, bringing a new batch of snow with it. I pulled my large, dark red jacket closer around myself, more for comfort than to block out the cold. I didn't mind the cold, but my father hated it. It didn't bother me, it didn't even affect me. It wasn't supposed to affect him. I suppose that's why he hated it, it reminded him that he could never get the serum to fully work with himself. I didn't know where he was right now. He was supposed to contact us after the mission was over.

"Burr! It's freezing out here!" Rose shivered. I looked over to see her huddled into her orange jacket much like myself. Her bleach blonde hair tumbled out of a black beanie that was just a bit too big for her, so it kept slipping over her pale blue eyes. She was around my age, just nine months younger, but we were still only nine. We must've looked rather foolish standing outside in the cold alone.

"It's London. Of course it's cold," replied Grant, her brother. He was older than us, but only by about five years. He wore a black jacket, but one that really shouldn't be enough to keep him warm in sub freezing temperatures.

"Are you really cold?" I asked, "The cold isn't supposed to affect us. If it is, we should tell my father."

Rose sighed, "No, Tommy. Of course I'm not really cold. You know that. I was just-"

"Just what?" Grant snapped.

"I-I. Mr. Crane said to... blend in..." she trailed off.

"Oh. Yeah," I looked away.

"Heh," Grant laughed, "Yeah, that's a laugh."

"Isn't that why we were supposed to wear these jackets?" I asked.

"And why Dad got mad that you wouldn't!" Rose told Grant. He shut her up with a look.

Before he could yell at her, as he always does, a man clad in a fancy suit walked out of the Wayne Industries building. He was tall and squirrely. He kept looking everywhere he could, as if he was expecting someone to attack him. There were several armed body guards escorting him to an armored car. I counted eight, each with a hand gun, a semi-automatic of some kind and several extra clips. I only caught a glimpse of the brief case he was holding.

"Show time," Grant said, "Let's move!"

Simultaneously we all dashed into the alley behind the electronics shop. Together as we ran through the alley that ran parallel to the street, we dropped our purposely oversize jackets to reveal our combat gear; Grant wore an all black combat suit, Rose an orange and black and mine was maroon and black. Rose and Grant both pulled on masks that matched their costumes, Rose's was split down the center, orange on the right and black on the left. I tugged up my hood and put on my eye-mask. We reached a pair of motorcycles, one black, one orange. Grant got on the black one, Rose and I on the other. She drove; I sucked at driving.

With a rev of the engines and a harmony of screeches, we took off into the streets. In moments we were right behind the armored vehicle, weaving around traffic. Funny how efficient you can travel when you ignore all traffic laws.

As I took my quiver of arrows out of a bag attached to the bike and hooked it into place on my shoulder, Grant touched his com-link in his ear.

"Ravager to Nest, bait worked. Target is en-rout. Events are proceeding as planned."

 _"Roger, Ravager. Don't let me down, boy,"_ I heard a voice reply in my own com.

" _Tss!_ " Ravager hissed.

I shot him a sideways glance. Sometimes I wondered what it was like to have a father that actually took interest other than simply scientific in their child. Even if it was only slight. Even to solely ridicule. I didn't know if I envied him, but I was certainly intrigued.

" _Hopefully_ it'll all go as planned," Rose said, "this time..."

"Shut it, Finch!" Ravager hissed, "Parakeet, thin the herd."

I pulled out my bow and notched an arrow. The guards, who were following the truck on motorcycles, all formed around us, blocking us in. Ravager pulled a knife from somewhere on his bike. With a flick of his wrist he sent the blade into the front wheel of one of the guards. The bike reacted in the most dramatic way; flipping completely over, it threw the man away from the convoy with a dazzling explosion of metal debris. The other guards each took out a gun and began to fire at us. I was the first one to react, I fired my already notched arrow into the chest of the nearest man. It wasn't strong enough to fully pierce his body armor, but it still threw him from the bike. Before any of the guards had even gotten a clean shot on us, I notched and fired a second arrow, taking out another guard. Three down.

One of the guards pulled up right next to Ravager. The guard threw a punch that caught Ravager across his jaw. Ravager chuckled and slammed his head into the guard's helmet, shattering the visor. Then, he slammed the man's head forward into his handlebars. Then, he grabbed the man's own gun and shot him in his leg. The guard shouted in pain before falling off of his bike. Ravager took the gun and aimed at the tires of another guard's bike. He shot out the tires from two more bikes. Two left.

I notched two arrows in my bow at the same time, taking both of the remaining guards off of their bikes and sending them careening. All that was left was the truck. When the driver saw that his body guards were gone, he instantly sped up, plowing through all of the cars that weren't able to get out of the way in time.

"That wasn't so bad," Finch said.

"Don't celebrate yet!" Ravager shouted. "We got incoming!"

He was right. I could hear the sirens already. Soon we would have more than just eight guys on motorcycles to deal with.

"Worse than that!" Finch said, "Look!"

She pointed at the back of the truck. A very large looking man was standing in the back of the truck with the doors wide open. That wasn't the scary part though. The scary part was the massive, and oh so poorly named, mini-gun he had aimed at us.

"He's bluffing!" I said, "There are too many innocent people around here."

Before anyone could argue, the gun began spinning with a whir. The gun began shouting as it spewed bullets, destroying everything in a line around us. Thank God, Finch was driving, otherwise we would've died. Every car that hadn't already swerved away from us was either trying to turn around or stopped in the middle of the street. People dove for cover as trash bins and news stands exploded around them.

"And they call us the bad guys!" Finch complained as she drove serpentine to avoid the gun fire.

I tried to aim at the shooter, but each time I got a clear shot he turned the business end of the gun on Finch and me. As a reflex, Finch would jerk the bike out of the way, throwing off my aim.

"Parakeet! Take him out!" Ravager ordered.

"I can't get a clear shot," I told him.

"Don't give me that crap, just do it!" He instructed. His tone told me that failure wasn't an option.

All I had to do was hit a man on the back of a speeding truck with an arrow from the back of a motorcycle that violently dodged back and forth as he shot at me with one of the most intimidating weapons I have ever seen, all within a limited time span as my teammates relied completely on me... Easy. I took a deep breath as I drew an arrow. With a slow breath, I let it loose. It sailed through the air, around the midair bullets and embedded it'self into the wall of the truck. I hissed in irritation. Reaching back, I grabbed another arrow.

"Don't miss..." I whispered under my breath.

"You better not," Finch told me.

"Shut up!" I hissed through clenched teeth.

"Just shoot him!" She stated.

"I'm trying!" I shouted.

I aimed right at the man's head to knock him out, after all, I was only allowed blunt arrows. With a deep breath, I fired. The arrow sailed through the air and... directly over the truck...

"Damn it!" I swore.

"Parakeet!" Ravager hissed.

"I can't just-" I was interrupted by a hand on mine.

Finch had turned to face me and put her hand over mine on my bow. I should've been concerned that she was driving both blind and one handed, but something about her voice when she spoke made me feel incredibly calm.

"You've got this. Get it done," she said with complete conviction.

Something about her made me unable to reply. Her eyes. I think it was her silvery-blue eyes. They were so striking, so piercing. As if she could see into my very soul and command it to do whatever she wanted. Right now, she wanted it to hit that jerk with an arrow. I could only nod.

Once more, I reached back as Finch wove around traffic. With one fluid motion, I pulled out an arrow and aimed it at the guy in the truck. Just before I fired, Finch swerved, narrowly avoiding a yellow Volkswagen bug. I fired just as she turned.

"Keep it steady!" I insisted.

"OK, next time, I'll just hit the beetle!" Finch shouted at me.

Ravager pulled up next to us and whistled loudly. "Damn, Parakeet. I didn't actually think you could do it," he said.

"What are you-" I was struck silent by, well, silence.

There were no bullets flying, for the moment. A quick peek at the guard in the truck revealed him laying on the floor of the truck with his gun laying next to him. I hit him. I hit him! I had hit the guy right in the head, knocking him out.

"How-" I mumbled.

"Nice work." Finch smiled at me.

"Thanks..." I said meekly.

"We're not done yet," Ravager told us, "there's still a case we need to get."

"Right," I said.

Right behind us, police squad cars came barreling down the street.

Some poor sap on a radio called out, _"Pull over! You are ordered to pull over!"_

"I'll drive the truck towards Nest, you deal with them," he gestured at the squad cars.

"Sir, yes sir," Finch sighed.

"Looks like it's a good, old fashioned car chase," I chuckled, shooting an arrow as I did. The arrow crashed through the windshield of the closest squad car and struck the driver in the head. He was instantly knocked unconscious. The passenger, his partner most likely, tried to take the wheel. Emphasis on tried. The car immediately swerved into a second squad car. Together they crashed into the nearest storefront. As I drew another arrow from my quiver we began pulling onto the motorway.

"Uh... why are we getting on the motorway?" Finch asked.

"We're what?" I asked. "I thought Ravager was driving them towards Nest!"

"I am," Ravager said into the radio. I could hear his smile in his voice. "The police are going to shut down the on-ramps, then it'll be nice and private."

"'Nice and private' sounds to me like 'out in the open,'" I commented.

"I can't help but agree," Finch said.

"Trust me. I've got this. Leave it to me," He insisted.

"Yes sir," I muttered. "I guarantee that there'll be a blockade waiting for us at the end of this..." I added under my breath.

As we sped down the motorway, all of the surrounding cars slowly disappeared until, like he said, it was just us, the truck and the police behind us. Now that there were no more civilians in the way, apparently the police were given the green light on their weapons because we instantly got cops shooting at our tires. Finch swerved back and forth, trying to avoid the gunfire and keep us alive. I decided that I would be kind enough to reciprocate. Taking an arrow from my quiver I fired it at one of the squad cars on the left of us. What happened next was one of the most action movie moments I have ever experienced. The arrow lodged it'self in between the holes in the hubcap of the car. It immediately jolted to it's left as the wheel was locked in place, forcing the car to flip forward onto it's roof. It careened into the next closest car, which then smashed into the one next to it. Like some kind of intense game of dominoes, all five of the remaining police cars crashed into each other in a massive heap of smoking metal.

"Wow," I muttered.

"Wow," Finch agreed, looking in the rear view mirror. "That's a bit more impressive than the guy on the truck..."

"That... yeah..." I sighed.

Just when I thought that we were all good, the worst possible thing that could've happened to us, happened. From out of nowhere, a pair of black figures on motorcycles launched into the air, leaping over the wreckage. They were much faster than us and gaining quickly. As I began to realize what it was, I couldn't really help but panic. Placing my hands on the seat, I positioned myself so that I was crouching on the back of the bike facing the newcomers. Other than them, there were still four police vehicles, the closest one was about five meters. It was far for not having a running start.

"You get the briefcase, I'll be back," I said.

"What?" Finch asked.

"I'm about to do something really, really stupid," I sighed.

"Tommy..." Finch muttered with concern.

"We're supposed to use code-names when in the field," I stated flatly.

Before she could protest, I leaped into the air. The current world record for standing long jump is approximately a little over three meters, or just over twelve feet. Not to say that I am certain, but I feel as if I did better. I didn't have an exact measurement, but it seemed as if this was longer at least five meters, that's fifteen feet for those of you poor with your mathematics. Though, I wouldn't say that I landed it. More along the lines of slipped and smashed my head into the hood, nearly slipping off the front. At the last moment I reached out and grasped for something, anything to keep me from becoming British road kill. It was the windshield whippers that saved my life. I was just barely able to grip one enough to keep on the car. Pulling myself on, I took out an arrow and quickly shot the passenger, who was trying to do the same to me, knocking him unconscious. I then gave the driver a stern look.

"You see this?" I asked, gesturing to his partner. He nodded, seemingly still shocked that I made the jump. "And that?" I pointed to the wreckage of the other cars, almost far enough away to be seen as only a tower of smoke. Once more, he nodded. With a growl, I added, "keep driving." Once more he nodded.

I peeked back to see Finch in the back of the truck with her bike automatically following. She had a hand grinder and was cutting off the handcuffs from it's now unconscious guardian.

I slid over the roof to the kneel on the back of the car, out of the way of the driver's sight. As I notched a new arrow, a thought occurred to me. Despite my surge of bravado, I wasn't really sure how to proceed from there. My chest and head hurt from the impact of hitting the hood. I tried to ignore the pain and focused on our new opponents. The other three police cars had pulled back and let me get a look at the new dangerous pursuers. I had so hoped I was wrong, but the more I saw of them, the more it seemed I was right about who they were. The pointy headgear, the big black cape, the body armor, the fancy gadgets, the brightly colored young sidekick. It was not looking good.

Not knowing what else to do, I fired my arrow at the leader. He reached out and caught it before it hit his... horse shaped motorcycle... There was a moment's pause where he looked from the arrow, to me, and back. The look he gave me was clear. I. Was. Screwed.

Before I could thoroughly ready my behind for the serious beating it would receive at the hands of the menacing motorcyclists, I was saved by being right.

 _"Road block! Road block ahead!"_ Finch called over the headset.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw about seven squad cars with traffic spikes lined up lined up on the motorway just ahead of us. There were about a dozen officers behind them with guns and more stupid loudspeakers.

 _"This is your last warning! Stop your pursuit of the armored car and turn yourself over or we will open fire!"_ This was bad.

"I believe that this would be the opportune moment to strategically retreat," I said into my radio.

 _"Damn it,"_ Ravager hissed, _"It's too late to turn back. We'll ram them._ _"_

"I would highly advise against that," I stated.

 _"Shut up, Parakeet,"_ he snapped, _"_ _I'm in charge here."_

 _"Do I get a say?"_ Finch asked.

 _"No,"_ Ravager stated.

 _"I expected as much..."_ she sighed. She hopped out of the truck and back onto her bike. _"Oh, and by the way, I finished the mission."_

 _"What do you want, a reward?"_ Ravager hissed. _"We can still get through the barricade."_

"Ravager, proceeding as we are now, we can not succeed," I told him.

 _"I say we can,"_ he insisted.

This was just foolish! I couldn't believe he was trying this! It was insane! There was no logical way we could ever beat them! Though the sound in his voice, he was determined. For one reason or another, he needed to do this. I didn't understand it. It was completely illogical!

Just when I began to panic, I heard Finch's voice on the radio. _"Mission completed."_

 _"Move to extraction point," c_ ame the simple reply.

 _"Roger,"_ she replied.

 _"How are we supposed to do that?"_ Ravager asked.

"I've got an idea," I said, "but it's risky."

 _"At this point, we have no options," Finch said, "go for it."_

"OK, just get behind the cruiser and get ready for our exit," I sighed.

Taking out the knife I kept in my boot, I stabbed the roof of the car. I slid off the back of the car, and using my knife to keep me on, opened the passenger's side door. I grabbed the unconscious partner's shirt.

"What are you doing?" He asked, terrified. After slipping a small capsule into his clothing, I threw him out of the car. "What are you doing?!" Before he hit pavement, I pressed a button on my belt. Instantly the man's clothes spewed foam that surrounded him, placing him in a safe ball of foam.

I turned to face the driver. "Your turn," I said, holding up another capsule identical to the first.

All I was able to see was a flash before being thrown from the car with a _BANG!_

Lucky for me, Finch was right behind me; I slammed into her in a position were my legs were just inches from the road. One inch lower and I would've been roadkill. She wrapped her arm around me to keep me from slipping.

"You OK?" she asked with no small amount of concern.

I checked my chest with a bit of anxiety. It seemed the bullet was stopped by my suit, the force just threw me backwards.

"I'm fine," I sighed. "Give me a second."

I leaped back through the open door, landing in the seat. The policeman pointed his gun at me again, this time at my face. Before he could shoot me again though, I grabbed it and jerked it away. Then, I quickly jerked his hand to the side. With a sickening _snap_ his wrist broke causing him to drop the gun.

"Ah!" He shouted in pain.

He tried to punch me with his other arm, but I caught his fist, trapping his arm.

"I'm trying to save your life!" I growled.

He didn't seem to understand, and I was not going to explain. With a sigh, I just shoved the capsule into his shirt. Using the seat to brace myself, I kicked both feet into his chest, forcing him and the door from the car. I pressed the button on my belt again to save him. Despite the fact that he shot me! Don't ever let it be said that I'm not a saint. The sad part was that this was the easy part.

 _"Was that your plan? Develop a bleeding heart?"_ Ravager sighed.

"Just wait," I said with a sigh.

Shuffling into the driver's seat I took a deep breath. If I was going to do this, I needed to steady myself. From my belt, I produced a pair of smoke grenades and threw them at the blockade, which was unnervingly close now. The throw would've been impossible if I was normal, but since I'm not, it was only improbable, but they still got close enough to blind the police for the moment. Now, I cannot suggest that anyone without a license ever attempts to drive a car, especially if you are much too young as I was. Though, I do not think that anyone, with or without a licence, should ever attempt what I did next.

Which was ride a flipped police car going approximately eighty miles per hour into a police barricade to form a ramp for my team.

I slammed my foot to the accelerator. The car lurched forward, shoving me back into the seat. I watched as the speedometer rocketed up. Sixty. Sixty five. Seventy. Seventy. Seventy five. Eighty. The smoke was about thirty feet from me at this point, I couldn't risk going any faster. I jerked the steering wheel to the left. The entire car swerved for a nanosecond before flying into the air.

At this point, time seemed to slow down for me. I reached out the door and pulled myself against the force of the spinning vehicle, pulling myself onto the underside of the car as it became the new roof. looking behind me, I saw Finch and Ravager. They seemed dumbstruck, but it was hard to tell with them wearing masks. When the car returned to the ground, it didn't even seem to slow down. I was enveloped by smoke for only a second as I passed the smoke grenades. I wish I could've seen the look on the police officer's faces as they saw an armored child riding a flipped car. They all tried to run out of the way as quickly as they could. Just before the car smashed into the barricade, I jumped into the air, back-flipping onto the back of Finch's motorcycle.

"How-?" She asked.

"Not the time. Escape now, explain later!" I insisted.

"Right!" She nodded.

I looked over to Ravager and said into my radio, "Use the car as a ramp, jump off the motorway!"

 _"You better know what you're doing,"_ he said.

There was a sudden jolt as Finch popped up onto the rear wheel to jump off of the overturned police car. The police officers were too disoriented to do anything as the two motorcycles ramped off of the wreckage and over the side of the motorway. I felt myself go weightless as we surged over the barricade. While we were in the air, I turned and fired an arrow at the car we used as a ramp. It exploded on impact, destroying the car and leaving the wreckage flaming. The police scattered as the whole barricade went up in a fireball.

We hit the ground about thirty feet below hard. There was about a second of a pause that lasted years before the tires fully gripped the road and we took off down the street to our extraction point. I was exhausted, but just happy to have succeeded.

* * *

 **AN:** So here's the new beginning to Tommy's story. Very different from the original story, but hey, this time I actually have a plan. The entire story is going to be a bit different from the original plot, but I hope you still enjoy it. I will be updating this story as often as I can. And as always, thank you for reading.


	2. Chapter 2: Six Years Later

**AN:** Chapter 2... I guess...

 **DISCLAIMER:** All this stuff's not mine.

* * *

 **|BIALYAN RESEARCH FACILITY  
** **|February 19, 12:12 UTC, 2016**

Everyone has had one of those days. A day where you wake up and feel off. This was one of those days for me. As I got dressed in my casual clothes, a pair of white joggers and a white t-shirt, I felt like something was wrong. I tried to ignore it, but I couldn't shake the feeling something was off. I wasn't usually one to be swayed by something as illogical as intuition or gut feelings, but I could not shake the sensation that something was very wrong. I tried to write it off to waking up late. I was usually up by eight, but for some reason I didn't get up until almost noon. It wasn't as if I had anything to do necessarily, but I still preferred to be consistent. Something told me that it was more than that though. As if there was some horrible presence looming in the air.

I walked out of the tent that served as my room for the time being to find a small girl staring up at me with deep blue eyes, pleading for an unnamed desire. She was clad in her own outfit much like mine. On me, I could ignore how much it reminded me of how we were nothing more than test subjects, but on her it was just to glaring. She was so young, so innocent. She was still a child. When I was her age, I had already been on several missions, but somehow she had been spared the torment. I was actually very relieved.

"Wow. You're cornering me at my own tent now?" I asked.

"Tommy!" She begged, tugging on her short blond hair to try and look cute. Unfortunately, she did.

"Ugh, fine, take it," I sighed, producing a small silver bracelet with a crescent moon charm on it from my pocket. "Happy birthday, Bucky."

"Ooh! It's pretty!" She cheered. "Where's it from?"

"El Paso," I said, beginning to walk towards the elevator down to the lab. She followed behind me.

"Where's that?" She asked.

I gave her a look. "You've been slacking on your studies."

She just shrugged, "I don't like geography."

"Huh, America," I said, "El Paso is in Texas, which is part of America."

"Huh," she pretended to show interest as she inspected her new piece of jewelry. It was just plastic and glass, but she regarded it as if it was a piece of royal treasure. "What were you doing there?"

Now it was my turn to shrug. "I was just ordered to be there for 'security.'" I put air quotes around the last word.

"They didn't tell you the mission?" She asked, "Again?" I shook my head. "How does that not annoy you?"

"I never said it didn't," I pointed out with a glare.

"I don't understand that though," she said confused, "why can't you just ask Father?"

I sighed. If my mood could've been made worse, it was. "You don't understand. He treats me," I struggled for the word, "differently than you."

"How so?" She asked, still focused on her bracelet.

"You don't understand," I repeated.

"Why do you keep saying that?" She complained.

"No reason," I sighed.

"Hmm," She huffed.

"You do your physical yet today?" I asked.

"Yeah, Father said that I'm still two inches shorter than I'm supposed to be," she pouted.

"Was that _all_ he said?" I asked.

"Yeah. Why?" She asked.

"Huh, nothing," I hissed. "I swear sometimes I hate that man."

She hopped in front of me, stopping me from going any further. "Take that back!"

"What?" I hadn't even realized that I had said it.

"You can't hate him! He's your father!" She insisted.

"Oh..." The look of sadness in her eyes just filled me with an extreme morose. I put my hand on her head and forced a smile. "You're right. I can't hate him. He _is_ my father." I wasn't sure if she believed me, but she smiled up at me. "Why don't you go show Rose your new present while I go and get my physical done."

She seemed to think for a moment before nodding. As she left, I couldn't help but once more feel sorrow. I wished that she could live a normal life so much. I knew there was no chance for me anymore, nor did I truly care, but more than anything I wished that she could be a normal kid.

* * *

I stared at my father as he finished his tests Simple motor tests, vision tests, vocal tests, blood tests, shock tests, etc. These had all just become so common to me that I didn't even pay attention anymore. I was studying his face as he leaned against the wall, writing down some notes on a clipboard. I didn't see much resemblance at all. He had dark hair and dark eyes. Not necessarily dark in color, but his stare had no care in it. Though his eyes were a different color than mine, his green and mine blue. His facial structure was also remarkable different from mine. Even in my young age, I should resemble him more. I couldn't tell if I resembled my mother, as I had never met her. I knew of her, I had snuck into his office and read about her once. Her name was Dinah Laurel Lance. Apparently she was some form of superhero. I wasn't allowed to meet her. I don't know why, it was just one of the many rules that applied to Rose, Grant and me. Though there were always more rules for me than for them.

"Is there something you wish to ask me?" My father asked in a careless tone without looking up.

"Were you waiting until later?" I asked, trying to keep the contempt from my voice. "Or did you just forget what day it is all together?"

Still not scribbling on the paper, he asked, "To what are you referring?"

"You don't remember what day it is, do you?" I dared.

"Do not waste my time," he dismissed, "if you are not going to say anything then you may leave."

"My sister," was all I said.

His pen stopped mid sentence. "If you are referring to Elizabeth, she is not your real sister."

"And yet you still gave her your name," I pointed out.

He returned to writing. "It was convenient."

"Convenient?" I asked.

"It was either that or branding her," he stated as if it was no big thing, taking a hot iron to his daughter. "This way, I didn't have to deal with the consequences of her fearing me."

I couldn't respond to that. I wanted to ask if he was some kind of machine. Instead, I asked, "Do you care about her?"

"Why would you ask such a ridiculous question?" He asked. "Of course I do."

I was actually a little doubtful. "You do?"

"Of course," he repeated. "She is a valuable resource of information. Much like you."

I glared at the ground. "Is that all you think of us?"

He paused for a moment before asking, "Is this all you wanted to do? Ask me absurd questions?"

"It's her birthday," I ignored him.

"No it isn't," he contended.

"Yes. It is," I assured him.

"That's not possible," he said without any emotion.

"How can you say that?" I demanded.

"She wasn't born," he stated plainly.

"She's still a person," I insisted.

"She is a duplicate of someone else," he corrected. "A pet project of mine."

"Father!" I blurted out. Once more his pen stopped moving. "She still loves you. She sees you as her family."

He sighed deeply and took off his glasses. Finally he locked eyes with me. "I do hope you have a point."

Struggling to contain my fury, I growled out, "If you do hold any tenderness in your heart at all, for either of us, please preserve her innocence." Green eyes connected with blue as we both seemed to be studying the other. I couldn't get a read off of his stoic face. After an awkward pause I added, "She doesn't see you the way I do. To her, you're still a loving father."

This seemed to surprise him a bit, though I couldn't tell if it was hurt or scientific intrigue. It was as sudden and startling as the strike of lightning. Then it was gone. The look only lasted a nanosecond, but it was definitely there. A flash of emotion.

After a moment he replaced his glasses and muttered, "You may go."

"At least wish her a happy birthday," I pleaded.

"You may go," he repeated flatly.

"I know you didn't get her anything but something as small as that should be enough to-"

"You may go!" He cut me off. He didn't shout, but the slight raise in his voice may as well have been the war cry of a bloodthirsty viking.

I straightened my back in surprise. "Yes sir," I struggled out before leaving the room.

Once more I wondered what it would be like if my father ever showed any emotion to me. I struggled not to resent him at times. He never showed anything but absolute apathy towards me, his own son. He was a little more kind to Bucky, but I had a theory about that that made me snarl. Sometimes it felt as though the only reason he was ever kind to her was because it was all part is his scientific experiment with her. He treated me like I was nothing and then her like his daughter just so that he could measure the behavioral differences. I tried to tell myself that he wasn't that cruel, that he was just hard on me because I was a boy. Or maybe he had just always wanted a daughter. Anything to tell myself that he loved her. I could care less about his feelings toward me, but he had to care for her. She valued his care too much for him not to. If I was right and it was all about science to him, and she found out... I refused to think of what that would do her.

I walked through the corridor, deep in some mountain in Bialyan territory. I didn't even know where we were. Father had just dragged us to another new location without any warning or preparation. Again. I had started to get used to it, especially after all of the mystery missions that I go on now, but Bucky wasn't. Father was helping his associates gather testing material for their new "benefactors." I hated how little I was trusted with any information. It took me three years to find out the very name of the organization I _work_ for! I still didn't know their goals, or what their name even meant. "The Light." It was very dramatic. It wasn't the type of name that one takes on without reason. I wasn't even supposed to know that much. I had found out from raiding my father's files, and then confronting Rose about it. She seemed surprised that I didn't know. It infuriated me. As time went on and I spoke with more and more people, an endeavor that seemed increasingly difficult, the more it seemed that everyone seemed determined to keep everything a secret from me. Thinking of it all seriously put me in a bad mood. Almost as much as speaking with my father did.

"Tommy!" a feminine voice called to me.

Turning I saw Rose jogging down the corridor towards me. Rose. In the past few years she had truly blossomed. She became more of a woman every day. I couldn't deny that she was attractive. Her bleach blonde hair cascaded down her shoulders and back like waves of light. Her figure had also became much more feminine recently. While I wasn't nearly as incapacitated as other boys my age, I will admit I found it somewhat... distracting at times. She was wearing the same white garb as Bucky and I. Though it fit her much better than either of us.

She jogged to a stop beside me. "Where are you going?" She asked with as smile.

I looked back at where I had come from to the other end of the corridor. "Not sure..." I muttered.

"Well," she casually bumped her hip into mine, "could I tag along?"

"If I, myself, do not know where I'm going, then I can't very well forbid you from coming," I pointed out.

"Ugh," she sighed, "always so serious."

I cracked a smile at her. "Am I?"

She quirked eyebrow, "Don't tell me that was supposed to be a joke?"

"If you could understand it," I chuckled.

She glared at me, but I could tell she was trying not to smile. "You making fun of me Thomas?"

"Possibly," I smirked, "you'll just have to figure it out along the way." I turned to start walking down the corridor, my mood sufficiently improved.

"The way to where?" She asked, catching up to me and looping her left arm through my right. "Figure out our destination yet?"

"I don't know if you want me to," I said.

She looked at me, confused. "And why not?"

"Because then, I'd be able to say you can't come," I pointed out.

She feigned offence, "You wouldn't dare."

"Would I not?" I asked.

"Nope," she said matter-of-fact-ly.

"Why not? You're pretty annoying," I mocked.

With one swift motion, she stepped behind me pinned me to the wall with my arm locked in her grip. "'Cause then I might just have to break your arm for being so rude to me."

Laughing with my face pressed against a wall was hard, but somehow I managed it. "You'd never do that."

"You being a doubting Thomas, Thomas?" She asked.

"Yep," I laughed. "Cause you hurt me, and who's gonna save your butt on missions?" She jerked my arm up a little. I just laughed again, "Grant? That's a laugh."

"Who says my butt will need saving?" She asked.

I kicked her ankle, breaking her stance and forcing her to drop my arm. Then I quickly slipped around her and grabbed her wrist to keep her from falling. I pulled her up and pressed my arm over her shoulders, pushing her back against the wall.

"Anyone who's ever seen you fight," I smiled.

She looked up into my eyes with those pale blue eyes of hers. They looked like the water from some tropical beach. Her cheeks seemed to flash a little red for a moment for some reason.

"Maybe I get in trouble so much just so that you _can_ save me," she suggested.

I didn't realize she was leaning against my arm until I let her go and she stumbled forward. "Why the heck would you do that?" I asked, confused.

She took a second to straighten herself. "Huh... No reason." She said. She muttered something under her breath that I didn't catch. She was looking really red now.

"Are you OK?" I asked, "You're looking a little feverish."

She turned away from me and pulled at her hair a little. "I'm fine." She said, acting tough again.

She always did this. If she got sick and didn't tell anyone again it could be trouble. I tried to place the back of my hand on her forehead but she slapped me away. "Ow! Hey!" I protested.

"I said 'I'm fine!'" She insisted.

"Alright," I let the matter drop.

"We should go," she said before speed walking down the corridor.

"Hey Rose!" I shouted, running after her.

I chased her right past the door to my father's temporary lab, but I was stopped by the sound of voices inside. The door had been left slightly open. It sounded as if my father was arguing with someone. Someone with a deep, intimidating voice.

"-you promised me that this would be it. This was the last time," my father's voice insisted. I was surprised to hear him so upset.

"I never made a promise. I said maybe. Besides, it was never up to you or me," the voice replied.

"Don't give me that. I know how you have sway with the Light," My father retorted. The Light?

I cautiously crept closer, trying to not give away that I was listening in.

"Hey, I'm just a hired gun." I recognized the voice as Slade, Rose and Grant's father.

"I heard there's talk of making you the new head of security," my father stated.

"They'll never replace Sportsmaster," Slade said. "He's been too loyal."

"Not the point," my father growled. "Savage made me a deal."

"Well he's determined that you may be helpful to our 'benefactors.'"

"Me," my father asked with fervor, "or my children?"

I was stunned. He called us his children!

"Don't be that way, Arthur," Slade tried to calm him.

"Tommy?" Bucky called me from the end of the corridor.

Instantly I rushed to her, covering her mouth as I picked her up and took her behind a corner. I could hardly breathe as I heard Slade's boots as he stepped out of the room.

"Anyone there?" He called.

Despite all of the training I had in stealth tactics, I could never help myself from being unbelievably scared. Once he seemed satisfied, he stepped back inside the door and closed it behind him.

I let out my breath and released a very confused nine year old.

"Tommy, what was that about?" She asked.

"I, uh," I tried to think quickly. "We were playing hide and seek."

She clearly didn't believe me.

"Hey, let's go and get something sweat for your birthday huh?" I asked.

She looked up at me as if she was really trying to believe me. "OK..." She said.

* * *

 **|BIALYAN RESEARCH FACILITY  
|February 19, 18:32** **UTC+2**

I sat on the cold hard metal table in my father's lab as he did his usual pre-mission tests on me for the trillionth time in my life. At this point my father was giving me some new shots. I didn't know what they were. I wasn't allowed to know. I just stared at his large, haggard hands as he injected a golden liquid into my left arm. I cautiously glanced up at his face. He seemed much more distracted than usual, as if something was weighing very heavy on his mind. It was a little hard to tell, he did always look this way, but he seemed different than he had that morning. I still hadn't forgiven him for ignoring Bucky. I considered bringing it up again, but then decided against it. If I couldn't convince him before, nothing I said would get him to pay her any mind. And then there was the matter of the argument I overheard, but there was no way I would be able to speak to him about it.

My father finished the injections then replaced the syringe on the tray with the others. He started to wash his hands when a man entered through the door. He was tall, commanding and bulky. He was completely clad in body armor much like mine and Ravager's. He had much less weaponry on him than I was used to seeing, only visibly carrying a single pistol, though I was certain he had more hidden away. His hair was long and silver, pulled back in a ponytail that came down to the center of his back. I thought he looked rather goofy with it. Slade. I didn't know all of what went on between them, but I could feel the tension in the air.

"What is it?" My father asked. He seemed a bit nervous.

Slade glanced at me for a moment. "Not a conversation to have in front of _just anyone_ ," He said flatly.

My father shot me a look that was somewhere between disdain and confusion. As if he had expected me to just vanish after he was finished with me. As he turned his back to me he muttered, "You may go, Tommy."

Without a word I got up and moved to leave. I caught myself staring at Slade as I did, making a point to look away before he noticed. Before I had fully left, I turned and stared at the two men in the room. My father walked over to me. I was concerned that he was going to berate me, but what he did threw me off more than anything else in my life.

He placed his hand on my head and smiled at me. "It's going to be OK, son."

Before I could even respond, he shut the door in front of me. I wandered into the elevator and road it up to the main base at ground level. The entire time, I was just so confused. I resolved to just completely ignore his actions. It was probably just some other test. When I got to the ground floor, I had put it out of my mind.

There were many Bialyan soldiers walking around the base as well as a few others who seemed to have been brought in by the Light like myself and the others. I found Rose and Grant eating a couple of ration packs on the hood of a jeep at the edge of the base, watching the sunset. Even after all this time I was taken back by how much they've changed. By how much _we've_ changed. Grant was a man now. He resembled his father a lot, sans the white ponytail. While Rose... was Rose. Stunning as ever. I had also changed quite a bit, though I mostly just looked like Grant had at my age. Rose was watching the sunset. Grant was just focused on his food.

"I do hope you two don't ever call me sentimental again, after this," I said.

"Hmm?" Grant grunted in greeting, tossing me a ration of my own.

"You must admit, it's a pretty country," Rose smirked at me.

"It's a desert," I muttered, inspecting the ration. "It looks the same as any other desert." I frowned seeing it the horrid words "artificial banana flavoring."

"I think it's pretty," Rose turned back to watch the horizon.

"I don't like sand," Grant growled.

"Not a popular quote," I pointed out.

"What?" He asked.

"Nothing," I muttered as I begrudgingly began to eat the chemical mess inside the packet.

"I thought it was funny, Tommy," Rose smiled. She motioned for me to join them. I hopped up right between them and Rose leaned her head on my shoulder.

"So what's the mission tonight?" I prodded, hoping the calm would make them more forth coming than usual. "Father had more chemicals than usual for today. Is it anything special?"

"You know we're not cleared to brief you on missions, Tommy," Grant sighed, "Why do you keep asking?"

I sighed, "Dunno. Guess I'm just stubborn"

"You should be able to relate to that, Grant," Rose snapped.

"Listen you-" He started.

"Can we just not today?" I asked with a touch of vehemence.

Begrudgingly, they both backed down.

"You good, Crane?" Grant asked.

I glared at the brightness of the sun as it sunk just below the horizon fully. "I don't know, I just have a bad feeling."

"You always get this way before missions," Rose complained.

"That may have something to do with the fact that I'm never in on the mission that I'm a part of." I sat up, gently forcing her off me. She didn't protest, but I could tell that she was a little disappointed.

"You need to stop asking questions. Maybe then you'll actually get some answers," Grant said.

"That makes no sense," I said, furrowing my brow.

"Yes, it does," He insisted.

Somewhat defeated, I laid back down, allowing Rose to return her head to my shoulder. We all watched the horizon for a second. No one would care to come check on us until they needed us for something. Finally I could take it no longer.

"I'm going to go and get ready," I sighed.

"OK..." Rose sighed.

I got off of the jeep and turned to them. "At least tell me this much, are we going anywhere?"

"Yeah," was Grant's simple reply.

"K," I grumbled.

I still couldn't control the gut feeling I had. As I got dressed in my suit, I couldn't think of anything other than my father's weird actions that day. I couldn't stand it. I need to know what that was about. I needed to know why.

It was unlikely that he'd still be in his lab, but I couldn't go another second without an answer. I walked as quickly as I could, without causing alarm to his lab, the entire time my mind reeling.

 **WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT**

When I got to the door, I couldn't believe my eyes. The door was smashed. Tentatively, I pushed the door open. The lights were off, but the light from the hall spilled into the room from behind me. Everything was trashed. The lab equipment was shattered, the boxes and tables were crumpled and mangled. In the center of it all was a pile bloody clothing in the shape of a body. I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I just stood there. Staring at it in disbelief.

There was no way.

It couldn't be...

He- he wouldn't.

He didn't go and die on me!

I was so shocked that I didn't even notice when he began moving. Slowly his head rose up and looked at me. It was my father. His face was covered in blood.

"F-Father?" I stammered.

"T-Tommy..." he sputtered out.

A figure appeared from behind him. Slade slowly walked out from behind my father. He had a cruel smile on his face, and bloody knife in his left hand.

"Run..." my father spat out.

Slade grabbed my father by his hair, pulling him up slowly. I was so terrified that I couldn't move. I couldn't look away. As he stared me in the face he took his knife to my father's throat.

"F-Father..." I sobbed.

Slade dropped my father's corpse and took out a rag to clean out the knife.

"Sorry you had to see that, boy," he snickered, "Your father and I had a disagreement." I still couldn't move.

He sighed. "Doesn't matter anyway. You've and your 'sister' have a pair of tickets on the next cargo plain out of here."

At the mention of Bucky, I was finally able to move. I turned and ran down the corridor as fast as I could. I didn't get far though. I made it ten feet from the door when my left leg irrupted in white hot pain. I collapsed to the floor. I looked down to see his knife sticking out of the side of my leg. Slade walked over and grabbed me by my hood, lifting me up to eye level.

"You're still valuable as a paraplegic, kid," he told me.

"Valuable?" I growled in confusion.

"You think I kept you alive for kicks?" He asked. "I could've pierced your heart."

"No, but it was pretty stupid," I hissed.

"Keeping you alive?" He asked with a chuckle.

"Getting so close," I sneered.

I grit my teeth to prepare for the pain. With one quick motion, I ripped the knife out of my leg and jammed it into his right eye.

"Ah!" He shouted in pain, dropping me.

I tried to ignore the pain in my leg as I ran as fast as I could to Bucky's room, the knife still in my hands.

"I'm going to kill you!" Slade shouted after me. I tried to ignore him as I rounded a corner.

I got to Bucky's door and kicked it open. The entire room is open.

"Tommy?" A voice called from behind me.

I turned to see Rose. She was wearing her combat gear. She turned to me with a smile as she saw me. Before she could fully react, I slammed her into the wall and put the knife to her neck.

"Tommy?" She asked, shocked, "What are you doing?!"

"Where is Bucky?!" I demanded.

"What?" She asked.

"Where is she?!" I shouted.

"Tommy, calm down!" She tried to soothe me. She put her hand on mine, trying to take the knife from her neck.

I pushed it a little more into her neck. "Where is my sister?"

"Tommy, what's wrong?" She asked.

"Don't act like you don't know!" I hissed.

"Tommy, I really don't-"

"My father is dead!" I shouted.

She seemed legitimately shocked. "H-How?"

"Your father killed him," I snarled.

This also seemed to shock her. "He what?"

"Where is my sister?!" I shouted.

Her gaze steeled. "You going to kill me, Tommy?" She asked. "In the six years we've worked together, you've never killed anyone. Grant thinks you're weak for that, but you know what? I've always admired your conviction against killing. But by all means, end it all now."

Her words took me off guard. I had never known she had felt that way. I could only ask again, "Where is my sister, Rose?"

"I don't know!" She said. "I was looking for you. To start the mission."

"I-I..." I stammered.

"Tommy, let me help you," She suggested. "We'll go and find Bucky together."

"How do I know that I can trust you?" I asked, trying not to cry from stress and sorrow. The look in her eyes made me feel awful for accusing her of anything. She put her hand on my cheek and smiled somberly.

"Tommy, it's me," was all she said. Hesitantly I lowered the knife and struggled to remain vertical. "Tommy, you're wounded."

I ignored her. "I need to find Bucky before-"

"Too late." Slade's voice called from the end of the hall.

"Oh no..." I sighed. Terror filled every part of me. My stomach was a pot of boiling water. I didn't have the energy to run again.

"I-I'm sorry," I heard Rose's voice in my ear.

"Wha-" I was cut off by a massive jolt of electricity surging through my body.

No matter how much I tried, I couldn't stay upright. The last thing I remember before I blacked out was Rose standing over me with a tazer.

* * *

 **AN:** Glad to see that it seems people are taking well to the reboot! I am actually pretty excited about it myself. It feels good to be writing this story again. And as always, thank you for reading.


	3. Chapter 3: Reunion

**AN:** Number the third.

 **DISCLAIMER:** Warner Brothers and Netflix owns all of this.

* * *

 **|WASHINGTON, D.C.  
** **|February 20, 05:33 EST**

I woke up in the last place that I would have ever expected. I was handcuffed in what was clearly an interrogation room. I sat on one side of the table opposite an empty chair in an all white room with my hands in cuffs behind my chair. Along the wall to my right was what was clearly a two-way mirror, and in the corner behind my left shoulder was a camera mounted to the ceiling. On the wall opposite me, just next to the mirror, was a simple, unremarkable door. My hood was down and my mask was gone, along with all of my weapons. Wait, scratch that, whoever had captured me had missed the three inch switchblade I kept in my left boot. The wound in my left leg was bound and treated. Skillfully I might add.

My head hurt. I must've hit it when I collapsed. When I could fully gather my thoughts, I tried to think up a way out of the room. I didn't have to think long though, because before long the door opened.

One man walked in (I made a note that the door opened inward) and it was _not_ who I was expecting. I instantly recognized him. I sat back in my chair, surprised and exasperated with my bad luck. He was somewhat tall and muscled with shaggy dark hair. A mask covered his eyes and he wore a combat suit with a blue bird insignia emblazoned on his chest. I noticed he carried no weapons. Either he was confident of himself or doubtful of me.

"Nightwing," I identified him.

"Parakeet, I believe it is." He sat down in the chair at the table opposite me. "Could I get you anything to drink?"

I looked him up and down. "Can we cut the formalities?"

He sighed. "I'm sure you have many questions."

"I can think up a few." He didn't use my real name. Did they not have a file on me? "I imagine you have a few yourself."

He cracked a smile that seemed forced. "Yeah. A few."

"So..." I let the word hang in the air. "Who goes first? Do we Ro-Sham-Bo? Cause I'm a little tied up."

"How about you just tell me your real name for starters?" He asked.

"Clint Eastwood," I replied. He just stared at me. "A gentleman would offer his first."

He sighed, "This will go a lot faster if you cooperate with us."

I leaned forward. "And who is 'us,' precisely?" I asked with a sneer. "The Justice League? Last I heard you weren't a member. Batman? This room is a little too well lit for his style."

Nightwing groaned and leaned back in his chair. "I don't have to be your enemy."

"That's why you restrained me," I pointed out.

"That's why we bandaged you up," he countered.

"What am I doing here?" I asked, annoyed. "Last I remember I was in Bialya."

"I'll tell you everything, but we need to have a quid pro quo here." He put his elbows on the table and tapped his fingers together.

I tried to size him up. If I could keep him talking then I might just get out of here. Plus, it wasn't like I had any real reason to lie to them anymore. Not after Slade and Rose _both_ betrayed me. Thinking of that made it hard for me to keep my stoic face for a second, but somehow I managed. I would get out of here, and I would get them for what they did to me. First, I had to find Bucky, and if they had me... Well, it wasn't _that_ much of a long shot. Though, I had this unshakable sinking feeling. As if I was being watched, and by more than just him or the camera. It felt to me almost as if there was someone else in the room with us. I couldn't explain it, but my body was certain that there was someone else in this room, despite what my eyes were telling me.

"Fine," I huffed.

He smiled, "Good. I'll start with something small, what were you doing in Bialya?"

"I don't know," I admitted.

"I thought we had an agreement," he sighed.

"We did. And I honored it. I wasn't permitted to know the reason we were there. I was told nothing," I told him. I couldn't tell if he believed me.

He seemed to stare at something behind me for a second. "Alright."

"My turn," I insisted. "How did you, and whoever you're working with, get a hold of me?"

Once more he seemed to focus on the walls for a second. This time I caught sight of his earpiece. "My compatriots found you in a stasis pod in an underground cavern in Bialyan territory."

"Was I alone?" I asked.

Another second passed as he was told whether not he could tell me by whoever was behind the glass. "No. There were several others there."

"Who were they?" I prodded.

"Quid pro quo, remember?" he said.

"Fine. Your turn," I sighed.

"Who do you work for?" he asked.

"Did would most likely be a more accurate statement," I corrected.

"Alright, who did you work for?" he corrected himself.

"I guess they were called... 'The Light.'" If that meant something to him, he was pretty good at hiding it. I hazarded a glance at the two-way mirror. I knew there had to be someone there, but somehow, I knew exactly where to look. As if I knew precisely where one of the people back there was standing. "Although that is literally all I know about them. I couldn't tell you how many members they have or who any of them are."

Once more he took a moment to listen to the response from his ear piece. "OK," he sounded satisfied.

"My turn," I reminded him. "When 'your team' found me, and I was with 'several others,' was there a small girl of about nine, with blonde hair and blue eyes?"

This one did seem to surprise him a bit. Once more, he waited for a second to see if he was _allowed_ to tell me. "I believe there was a girl fitting that description."

"Is she here?" I asked.

He took a second to respond, which told me all I needed to know.

He reacted a second too late. Now with one hand freed from the handcuffs, I lifted the chair over my head and chucked it at him as hard as I could using my right hand. He stood up just in time to get hit dead in the chest and knocked backward. Simultaneously I took a step onto the table, I pulled my knife from my boot and threw it at the door with my left. It embedded it'self in between the door and it's frame just above the handle. Before he could recover, I charged the door, ripping it open. The automatic lock instantly jutted out, throwing my knife away. I had lost a precious second with the damn door opening inward, the door next to the one I came out of blew in as two people stepped out to block my way. The first was a tall man with black hair wearing a long sleeved black t-shirt with the red S shield of Superman on the chest. The second was a girl wearing an all black combat suit with a cape which showed off her red hair and lower jaw. _She_ had the symbol of Batman on her chest. Great... Not wanting to deal with them, I charged the Super-jock, making it seem as if I was going to attack him. He readied himself for the attack, but at the last second, I dove and slid through his legs. When he turned to face me, I threw my elbow into his jaw, knocking him to the ground. The Bat-lady took out a tazer to subdue me. I simply ducked at the last second and kicked her in her solar plexus. She went flying into the wall and crumpled to the ground gasping for air.

I left my knife where it landed and bolted down the hall, for all I knew in the wrong direction. However, in my experience, whenever someone specifically blocks you from going somewhere, go there. I made it all the way to a dead end before I heard my pursers approaching fast. Swearing to myself, I desperately began to search for any place to hide. I spotted a vent near the ceiling on the wall to my left. Quickly I jumped up, ripped it off and hid inside, replacing the vent behind me just as I heard them all get to the hallway.

"You see him?" Nightwing asked.

"No, he must've taken a different hall," a male voice, Super-jock most likely, replied.

"Someone should go and check on that girl," what I assume was Bat-lady said. Bucky...

"You go, Superboy and I will sweep the area. Put the whole Hall on alert," Nightwing instructed.

"Right," they both responded at the same time.

As I heard them leave, I slipped out of the vent and peered around the corner. They all ran in three different directions. Bat-lady went left, that's what mattered. Using all fourteen years of my stealth training, I followed her through the building to a simple unmarked door. If they had her tied up in there, I was going to make them pay!

As she reached out to open the door, I charged her. Just too late to stop me, she turned to see my shoulder. She was just fast enough to move out of the way as I smashed through the door, desperate to save my sister. After getting over the shock of hitting a metal door full force with my shoulder, I was hit with a second shock, I was in a library. An empty library. I turned and glared at Bat-lady.

"Where is she?!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

"You know," I heard a voice behind me, "if you were trying to win our trust, this was probably the worst way."

I turned to see Nightwing and "Superboy" as Nightwing called him, along with a new woman. She seemed to be a little older than me, with short red hair. She wore a navy blue, tight fitting suit with a cape that had a red "X" across her chest. Course, the main thing that stood out about her was her green skin.

"Huh... it was a trap," I surmised.

"Yeah," Nightwing confirmed. "Come with us, kid. We're not trying to hurt you."

"So long as you don't try to hurt us," Superboy rubbed his jaw in irritation.

I stet my feet and stood up as tall as I could. "Where is she?" I demanded.

"Safe," the green woman promised.

"I want to see her," I insisted.

"First, we need to finish our conversation," Nightwing offered with a smile.

"I'm not saying anything until I see her," I told them firmly. I set my legs firmly into the ground.

They all readied themselves for a fight.

Bat-lady walked over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. "Calm down, we can talk about this."

"I'm done talking," I sneered.

I threw her off of me and ran towards the other three. I jumped into the air to get a good downward kick on Nightwing, but before I could, the green woman raised her hand. Her eyes glowed green and I was stopped in midair, floating helpless.

"What the-?" I asked.

Just then, Bucky came running into the room.

"Bucky!" I shouted.

"Where'd she come from?" Superboy asked.

"Batgirl!" Nightwing shouted.

"Bucky run!" I shouted.

"Batgirl" began to rush to Bucky, but before she could get to her, Bucky opened her mouth. I had just enough time to cover my ears.

 _"CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"_ Bucky let out a loud, very high pitched screeching noise that paralyzed everyone in the room.

The green woman was so thrown for a loop that she dropped me. Because I was the only one who had been able to prepare myself for her attack, I rushed over to her, only partially deafened.

"Bucky, come on! Let's go!" I insisted, grabbing her arm. I turned to run, assuming she would run with me.

To my surprise, she stood where she was. She jerked her arm out of my grip. "No!"

"What?" I asked. "Bucky we have to get out of here now!" I looked up to see everyone recovering from the surprise attack.

"You don't understand," she looked up at me with eyes that were stronger than steel, and just as sharp, "they're trying to help us."

"They kidnapped us!" I said, before adding, "We're not having this conversation now. We need to go!"

"Tommy!" she insisted.

"Bucky!" I retorted. "We are leaving!"

I grabbed her hand and began dragging her to the door. Unfortunately, I was too late. Two figures appeared in the doorway, blocking my exit.

I recognized the green hooded archer as Green Arrow. The other was a slender woman with long golden hair. She wore a black leotard, a denim jacket that was cut short to show her midriff and had the sleeves rolled up with gray leggings and combat boots. The way they both entered the room, they were prepared for a fight. Probably heard Bucky's cry. I instantly threw up my hood and turned away.

"Black Canary, Green Arrow," Nightwing greeted.

"What's going on here?" Green Arrow asked as he cautiously lowered his bow. "Who're they?"

"That's kind of a long story," Nightwing sighed.

"We heard-" Green Arrow seemed to struggle to put it into words.

"We heard _my_ canary cry," Black Canary said. She didn't sound angry, but her tone made it clear that she'd better get answers.

"It was the girl," Superboy told them. "She did your cry, somehow..."

"Who is she?" Green Arrow asked.

"Bucky, let's go. Now!" I insisted, trying to shield her from the other's gazes.

She forced her way past me and into the center of the room. "My name is Elizabeth Laurel Crane. I am the daughter of Arthur Crane," she announced, "and I am your genetic offspring, Dinah Laurel Lance."

Everyone in the room, myself included, was completely shocked. It seemed, no one more so than Black Canary. Everyone stood there in stunned silence. No one moved. Hell, I don't think Black Canary was breathing.

"Bucky!" I hissed through my teeth, trying to hide myself under my hood more than was possible.

"Dinah?" Green Arrow asked. "You have a daughter?"

"I-I," she stammered. She set her feet and stood up straight. "I don't have a daughter."

"I'm your clone," Bucky stated. I didn't think anyone in the room could get anymore surprised, but they all took a moment of silence to let the new fact set in.

"Who is Arthur Crane?" Nightwing asked after a pause. He seemed to be the only calm one here.

Black Canary paled a little at his name. "An old boyfriend."

"What?!" Green Arrow demanded.

"From high school!" Black Canary quickly added. "When I was just fifteen! But we never had a daughter. Arthur and I-"

"You had a son," Bucky finished.

"H-How-?" Black Canary stammered.

"Bucky! Shut up, now!" I snarled.

Instantly I regretted speaking at all. All of a sudden, all eyes were on me. My stomach dropped. I found the air growing rather thin. The room felt like it was spinning. I hated where this was going. All I could think was that I wished that my hood was deeper so that it could hide my full face. Hesitantly, Black Canary took a step towards me. I took a step back. She took another step forward, and I took another back. Then she took two steps forward. I took three back. She began walking towards me. I started backpedaling as much as I could. Why was there only one way out of this room?! And why was Green Arrow still standing there? I kept backing up until I bumped into a table, nearly falling over onto it. I looked down and suppressed a swear. When I looked up, she was only about six inches away from me.

With a heavy hand, she reached up to remove my hood with her left hand. I caught my breath. My heart skipped a beat. Instinctively, my left hand darted up and stopped hers, grabbing her wrist. She didn't even hesitate to reach up with her other hand and pull back my hood. Her breath caught.

"H-He looks just like her," Batgirl muttered.

I released her hand and she proceeded to run her fingers over every part of my face. When she was this close, I could see that she was about four inches taller than me. Her eyes were the same color as mine, a deep, silvery-blue. My hair was a little darker at the roots, but it was still nearly identical. From her cheekbones to her brow, I really did resemble her. It took me until seeing her that I realized that I had my father's nose, slightly upturned at the tip. Though, I think I had her lips. My fathers were small and very business-like. Hers were larger, more... sensual. She was very pretty. I could see what my father saw in her.

"Thomas?" She muttered.

I had never really thought of what I would say when I met the woman that abandoned me at birth. In the end, I just flatly said, "Dinah."

"Is it really you?" She asked me.

I tried to slip out from between her and the table, but she followed me. I swatted her hands away from my hair. "Yes."

She looked over my outfit very confused, "What is this?"

"My combat uniform," I said plainly. Normally I would have a more sarcastic answer, but I was just at a loss in this situation.

Black Canary looked over at Nightwing, "Nightwing... how?" was all she could ask.

Nightwing tried to force a smile. "I think we all need to have a long conversation."

Black Canary raised her eyebrows at his lightness. "I'd say so."

"First, let's all get away from anywhere with a viewing deck before the Hall opens," he said, gesturing to a platform just above a glass section of the ceiling.

"Yeah," Green Arrow agreed.

Everyone began to lead Bucky and me through the halls, there was no way I was getting out of here now. I tried to glare at Bucky but she was talking with the green woman about something. Black Canary was whispering with Green Arrow about something. They both kept their distance from me, which suited me just fine. Every few words one of them would look over at me before quickly looking away. The conversation did not seem to be pleasant.

"I meant to congratulate you," Nightwing said from behind me. I turned to him and raised my eyebrow. "You picked the handcuffs a lot faster than I thought you would."

"Picked?" I asked, as I popped the knuckles of my right hand back into place.

"Oh..." he muttered. "Well, here." He unlocked the handcuff off of my remaining wrist.

"Thanks," I said.

We all walked into another room, one with no observation platform for the sheep. This one was furnished like a typical living room. There were several couches surrounding a coffee table all facing a big screen television mounted on the wall. Along the other wall was a series of cabinets with a mini-fridge. The green woman walked over and took a grape soda out of the fridge and handed it to Bucky, who happily opened it and sat down on the center couch. The green woman turned to me.

"Can I get you anything, Thomas?" She put emphasis on the last word as if in all the commotion she had just barely heard my name. Though, maybe it just seemed like Black Canary was screaming to me.

"No. Thanks," I said awkwardly.

I leaned against the armrest of the farthest couch from Black Canary, who seemed to have the same idea as me. Avoid each other. Green Arrow sat next to her and then Superboy sat next to him. The green woman (I was going to need to ask her name if I was going to be around her any longer, which I hopped not) sat by Bucky in the center. Batgirl and Nightwing both remained standing until they saw that I was at a couch all alone. Batgirl walked over and sat at the opposite end as me, attempting to bridge the gap I guess. I didn't feel any less of a pariah.

"Miss Martian, would you mind?" Nightwing asked.

The green woman, Miss Martian, looked at me and smiled, "To help everyone understand everything properly, I need to link us all mentally. Basically, we'll all see and hear everything without needing to speak."

"Is that really necessary?" I asked.

She frowned. "Unfortunately it is. This is the only way we can be sure that everyone is being truthful."

I sighed. "I guess I don't have a choice then."

"I'm sorry." She did sound legitimately apologetic.

There was a strange sensation in my mind, indescribable and unlike any other, overcame me for a moment. Then I heard Nightwing talking in my head.

 _"I think it would be best if we have Dinah start,"_ he said.

 _"OK..."_ she sounded reluctant. Not that I wasn't. _"When I was just fourteen, I was what you would call the weird girl in school. Then, I met a boy named Arthur Crane."_ An image of my father as a young man appeared in my head. I was a little taken aback at how dashing he appeared. His eyes were filled with wonder and care, much unlike I knew him. _"This was when I was still coming to terms with my powers, and he could relate. He was the only one who ever actually looked at me like I was a person. Looking back, I guess it's just one of those age old stories. I never learned much about him, but he told me he was different too. We were young and..."_ I noticed Black Canary glance from me to Bucky. _"Things happened, as they so often do to two children so... desperate for each others attention. By the time Thomas was born, I was only fifteen."_ She paused for a moment, the memory clearly a bit much for her. Green Arrow put an arm around her and told her something that I didn't hear. Probably something reassuring.

 _"I was only fifteen, and I wasn't ready to be a parent. Neither was Arthur, but he said his father insisted that he keep him. So when Arthur said he was moving away and taking Thomas with him, I didn't stop him."_ I glared at the floor. Black Canary caught it. _"I was too scared of being a mother. I never-"_

"You never thought you'd see me again," I finished the thought aloud.

"I regretted letting him take you," she insisted. I just huffed. She stared at her boots. "Where is Arthur?"

My eyes darted over to Bucky. I couldn't just say it. It would crush her!

"He's dead," Bucky croaked.

"What?" Black Canary gasped.

"You know?!" I demanded.

Slowly she nodded. "I was in his lab when Mr. Slade attacked him." She burst into tears and Miss Martian put her arm around her to comfort her. I was a little apprehensive about it, but she seemed like an OK person. Plus, I was still pissed at her for announcing me.

"Slade? Deathstroke?" Nightwing asked.

"Yeah, that's him," I confirmed. "He killed my father."

"Why?" Superboy asked me.

I looked over at Bucky. Nightwing seemed to catch my meaning.

"Batgirl, maybe you could take little Elizabeth here to go and get something to eat," Nightwing suggested.

Batgirl walked over and escorted her out, Bucky failing to suppress her tears. I hated letting them take her away from me, but I was fairly certain that they wouldn't hurt her. If they did, no one would be able to stop my wrath.

"Why was your father..." Nightwing seemed to struggle for the words.

"Killed?" I offered. "Murdered? Done in? Slaughtered? Use whatever word you like it changes nothing."

Everyone looked at me as if I had two heads. "You're awfully lax about this," Green Arrow noted.

I shrugged, "There's no point in lying anymore. He may have been my father but he was never a father figure to me. I was just another project of his."

"Project?" Superboy asked.

"Yeah, both Bucky and I. See, the part Dinah," she seemed to try and subconsciously hide herself behind Green Arrow when I said her name, "doesn't know about is that my father was a scientist. He experimented on himself. That's how he was 'different.' And apparently his 'differences' were passed down. He used me like a lab rat. Bucky too. Like she said, she's your clone." I looked at Dinah, who seemed to recover some of her composure, rather quickly I might add. "Father didn't create her, but he was given custody of her because she's 'defective.'" I shook my head, "Horrible way of putting it. The only thing wrong with her is that she was born a baby, and actually ages. Anyway, my father was a scientists for these people called the 'Light.'"

That one surprised Black Canary. "Arthur was-"

"Yeah," I sighed.

"So, did they have him killed?" Miss Martian asked.

"I think so." I was still unsure about that.

"So, why?" Superboy asked.

I shook my head, "That's what I don't get." I told them about the argument I overheard.

"Sounds like the Light was trying to send you and your sister to their mysterious 'benefactors' and he refused," Nightwing surmised. "What's not to get?"

"What I don't get, is my father refusing," I told them. "As I said, my father treated me and my sister like experiments and nothing more. I can't see him caring that much about us."

"Was he really that awful?" Green Arrow asked.

I thought for a second. "Not awful. He was just... cold."

The room went quiet for a moment. Everyone had a lot to think about.

"There's just one last thing, Thomas," Nightwing said.

"Enough of this 'Thomas' crap," I growled. "Tommy."

"OK, Tommy, we need to do one last thing," he repeated.

"You're going to have the Martian read my mind," I guessed, "make sure I'm telling the truth."

Everyone seemed impressed. "Sorry, but it's the only way we can know for sure." Miss Martian said. She seemed sympathetic, if nothing else.

"Just get it over with," I sighed.

She walked over to me. "You might want to sit down." I slumped over into the couch fully. "Just try to relax."

She stood right in front of me. She held out her hands so that they were fully outstretched on either side of my head. Her eyes glowed green, and everything went black.

* * *

Next thing I know, I was floating in empty space. Everything around me was white, though random visions of my memories flashed around me. Then, the whiteness dissipated, replaced by some form of coalition of everywhere I'd ever been. It was a mess. I saw the Bialyan Desert underneath me. London stretched out to my left. Times square was above me, somehow. The Himalayan base where I learned archery was right in front of me. A few feet in front of me, Miss Martian appeared.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Inside your mind," she said, "In here you can't lie. Go ahead try."

I thought for a second. "When I first saw you I thought you were cute despite the green skin and I couldn't help but stare at your-" I threw a hand over my mouth.

She was very surprised by that. She even seemed to blush a little. "You know, covering your mouth does nothing."

"I'm sorry," I muttered.

"It's OK," she smirked, "that means that you're genuinely sorry as well."

"So, uh, how exactly does this work?" I asked.

"Just relax, this will only take a second," she assured me.

* * *

The next thing I knew, I was back in the room with the others. I was a little light-headed, but mostly no worse for wear.

Miss Martian turned to face the others and announced, "Tommy was telling the truth. He's not on a secret mission for the Light, and he has told us all he knows."

Everyone seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

"As I said," I grumbled, "there's no point in lying."

"We'll need to run a few blood tests to see if you really are Black Canary's son, but for now," Nightwing smiled, "at least we know we can trust you."

"Though, it might be best if you don't go around telling people you worked for the Light," Miss Martian told me, "we've recently had some trouble with someone we _thought_ was our friend."

She sounded very bitter. I don't know what happened, but I made a mental note to steer clear of that topic.

"Greeeaaat..." I sighed. "But what does that mean for me?"

"We have a secret facility where you could-" Nightwing was cut off mid sentence.

"You'll come live with me," Black Canary insisted.

"Oh, so you actually _want_ me now?" I blurted out unintentionally. I regretted it a bit as soon as I said it. Black Canary was visibly hurt by my comment.

"Tommy, I always-" she began.

"Save it," I huffed. I didn't want to hear her try to convince me she cared. "This 'secret facility,' is it isolated? No one around?" I asked.

"Uh, there are a few others living there, but you won't be getting any entrepreneurs," Nightwing told me. "But, if Dinah really is your mother, we wouldn't be able to take you away from her."

I glared at him. "Why not?"

"Because you're fourteen and the law doesn't allow it," Dinah insisted.

"What law? I haven't lived in the same country for two years in a row, ever!" I snapped.

"Well, now you're in America," Dinah said, "and I am not letting you out of my sight again." Her gaze softened, "Tommy, I just got you back, I'm not just going-"

"To dump me on someone else?" I asked. " _Again._ "

"Why do you have to say things like that?" She asked. "Can't you give me a chance?"

"The world gave you a chance," I said, "you gave it _and me_ up. Now, all I want is to protect my sister, and make Slade pay." She looked like she wanted to say something to me, but couldn't put it into words. I just glared. "You chose not to be a mom, why should you start now? I've never needed a mother."

She was clearly hurt deeply by my words. Maybe I should've felt bad about it, but I was just pissed at her. She thinks she can abandon me until it's convenient for her?!

"Hey, kid, how dare you-" Green Arrow was stopped by Black Canary putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Be that as it may," she said, "I'm still your only living parent, and therefore guardian. You and 'your sister' will come live with me." She said the words 'your sister' as if she were scared of them.

"Huh..." I growled, "I don't have a say in the matter, do I?"

"No," she told me.

I felt like I was still in chains. Actually, chains would've been preferable.

* * *

 **AN:** I really have nothing to say here, so... As always thank you for reading.


	4. Chapter 4: Striking a Deal

**AN: So... Yeah... Not sure how well this is going, because I'm writing these chapters basically back to back, but I hope that everyone's enjoying the reboot.**

 **DISCLAIMER** **: Young Justice is a property of Warner Brothers, DC and Netflix. Please support the official release.**

* * *

 **|STAR CITY  
|February 21, 09:23 PDT**

As I hung upside-down from my legs on the fire escape just outside of Dinah's seventh floor apartment, I thought of the past couple days I'd had. Yesterday, Dinah had brought Bucky and me to her apartment to "move in," though I hesitate to say that I had. Dinah attempted to buy Bucky and me clothes. Bucky loved it, getting nearly half a dozen outfits; I was sufficient with two black t-shirts, a red hoodie, and a pair of jeans. I refused to get anything more, despite however much Dinah insisted. I didn't want to acquire too many possessions, and I certainly didn't want to get comfortable here. Not that I could. I did not intend to stay here long. Though it seemed Bucky was perfectly content to do so. I didn't really understand how she could like that woman. Then again, Dinah hadn't abandoned _her_ at birth. I growled to myself. Letting my legs slip, I began free falling along the side of the building.

I tried to think of a way to get back at Slade. I would need to find him first. I didn't have access to my gear anymore. Dinah had it confiscated before we had even left the Hall of Justice. If I was going to find him, I would need weapons. Some smoke bombs, flash grenades, a good disguise, transportation. Everything a growing boy needs. Unfortunately, these were not things that I could just gather from the local grocery store. Though, everyone knew that Black Canary was dating Green Arrow. It was possible that he would have the equipment that I would require, at least to start. From there, it would only be a matter of finding an airport with a jet that could get me across the Pacific to Bialya. At least from there I could track him. I reached out and grabbed a hold of the fire escape about five floors down, swinging myself onto the landing. When my feet hit the grate, I could tell I wouldn't be able to fully stop my momentum. To avoid breaking my legs, I jumped backwards, completely reversing my direction. I grabbed a hold of the railing to keep from leaping over the abyss a few feet behind me. Keeping a tight grip, I swung over and hung on the bar for a moment.

It all sounded great in theory, but there weren't many private airfields that were willing to just up and let a fourteen year old take a jet. Plus, I didn't even know who Green Arrow was. I had my theories, but I wasn't able actually see his face yet. _Plus_ , Dinah and he seemed to be having some form of disagreement. I heard her speaking on the phone with him the night before, asking him to come and actually meet me and Bucky, but he didn't seem to want to. At the time I was relieved, I didn't really want to meet him either, but now I could use his tech. I _needed_ his tech. I began to climb back up the side of the fire escape to her apartment. I climbed back through the window without even having broken a sweat.

Dinah's apartment was little and simple. A coffee table sat in the center of the living room in between a sofa (there was a blanket and a pillow sprawled on the floor as proof that the couch served as my bed for the night) and a TV on an entertainment center. Across from the living area, along the same wall, there was a small glass table with metal legs. Four metal chairs surrounded it. It wasn't the kind of eating area that got used very often. Just behind the dining area was a fully stocked kitchen with one wall completely open to the dining area. There were empty KFC buckets and containers scattered along the counters from last night's dinner. Along the wall, midway between the kitchen and the dining area was a hallway that lead to a master bedroom, a guestroom and a bathroom. There were three windows around the room that let in plenty of light. The whole apartment was well furnished with rather modern, though simple and clearly inexpensive, furniture that seemed underused. It gave off the sense that whoever lived there, didn't spend much time there.

Standing in front of me was a clearly perplexed and uncomfortable Dinah in a bathrobe that barely covered her. I was grateful that she had decided to wear pajamas underneath it, though for some reason, she still pulled the little fabric of the robe over herself as if she were still exposed. I couldn't help but notice she had little green arrows all over her pajama pants.

"What were you doing out there?" She asked.

"Exercising," I stated plainly.

"Why were you exercising on the-" she began.

"There was nothing on cable," I cut her off.

"Ah," she muttered.

She examined me with confusion in her eyes. Regarding me, the way it seems, that she had since she had first seen me, as if I was some unpleasant assignment from a jerk boss that she didn't know how to deal with. We stared at each other in an awkward silence for a few moments.

"I could make some breakfast if you're hungry?" She offered.

"Do what you will. I don't really care," I snipped.

She looked clearly upset about that, but before she could say anything to berate me, Bucky walked out from the hall.

"Good morning," Bucky yawned, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Dinah walked over and placed her hand on Bucky's head. "Hey, good morning, dear," Dinah smiled. "How's breakfast sound?"

Bucky cheered, "Can we have pancakes? I've never had them before!"

Dinah's smile faltered for a second, before she recovered her facade. "Sure, I'll just need to go to the store for some things."

Bucky deflated a little, "Oh... I don't want to be a burden-"

Dinah crouched down to her level, "Don't ever think that, Elizabeth."

Bucky smiled broadly, "Call me Bucky."

Dinah returned her smile, "OK, Bucky."

I felt so awkward just being the same room as them. I don't know if I was grateful or annoyed that someone knocked at the door. Maybe both. I tried to hide how I tense I became, but I think that Dinah could still somehow tell. Cautiously, she walked over and looked through the peephole. By her reaction, it was either a tax collector or-

"What do you want Ollie?" She sighed. Ollie?

"Can we please talk?" I heard a muffled reply.

"Ollie, I don't think this is a good time," Dinah explained.

"I brought doughnuts," he offered, as if that made all the difference.

Apparently it did because Dinah opened the door a little. I still couldn't see who this Ollie was, but I could hear him a bit better, plus with the way they spoke to each other...

"What are you doing here?" Dinah sighed.

"Can we please just talk?" He begged.

With a sigh, Dinah stepped aside and opened the door, revealing a tall blond man with a goatee and mustache in an expensive looking suit and holding a box of Krispy Kreme doughnuts. On sight I could clearly tell that this man was Green Arrow.

"Tommy, Bucky, this is Oliver," Dinah introduced.

"Hey, kids," he smiled.

"Hello," Bucky smiled. I remained silent.

"I was just about to go to the store to get some things to make pancakes," Dinah explained.

Oliver smiled, "Well, now you don't need to." He walked into the kitchen and set the box of doughnuts on the counter.

"Bucky hasn't ever had pancakes before, so we were going to make them together," Dinah insisted.

Oliver seemed to realize what he had said. "Oh, alright," quickly recovering, he smiled, "I prefer pancakes to doughnuts anyway."

Dinah crossed her arms, "Does this mean you're planning on sticking around for breakfast?"

Oliver's light blue eyes darted back and forth between her and Bucky and me. "I was hoping to. And I was hoping we could have a little conversation."

Dinah seemed to debate it for a second before turning to us and saying, "Why don't you two go and get ready? Then well go to the store to get some stuff for breakfast. Tommy you can change in my room."

"Huh..." I huffed. "Fine."

As I walked down the hall, I heard them begin to argue. Well, it started as a discussion, but then turned into some kind of argument. A very hushed argument, but an argument none the less. I was relieved that Bucky didn't have the same serum I had running through my veins, enhancing my senses so that I could still hear them through the wall.

"OK, what do you have to say?" Dinah demanded.

"First off, I'll admit I had no right to say what I said yesterday," he apologized, "I had no right-"

"Damn right, you had no right!" Dinah cut him off. "I thought you, of all people would've understood, Ollie."

"I guess I was just hurt that you had never told me that you had had a son. I didn't think of _why_ you didn't. And now, to have two children come into your life at the same time... the last thing you needed was me asking all of these hard questions. Making accusations..." he trailed off.

"Huh, I know you don't mean to be this way. In truth, I wasn't ready to deal with this either. When I saw his face yesterday..." unintentionally, my spine stiffened, "it was just like I was a scared teenager again. Just as lost. Just as confused." There was a pause as if the weight of that moment weighed on her. As if the weight of _me_ weighed on her.

I turned away from the door, sick of hearing how much of a burden I was to everyone. I quickly changed into the outfit that Dinah bought for me the day before then barged out of the room. Dinah and Oliver jumped when I did, it seemed that they were comforting each other.

"I'm ready," I stated plainly.

"You don't need to take a shower?" Oliver asked. It was hard to judge by his voice but it seemed like he was just trying to get rid of me again.

"I took one earlier," I answered simply.

Bucky came out of the hallway wearing a tie-dye t-shirt with bleached bluejeans and red sneakers. She looked like a miniature hippy.

"Don't you look adorable!" Oliver smiled at her.

"Thank you sir!" She smiled back.

"You don't need to call me sir, you can just call me Ollie," Oliver smiled.

"OK, Ollie," she beamed, "you can call me Bucky."

"Bucky," he grinned.

"Can we go?" I asked impatiently. Oliver grimaced at me, I didn't care.

"Let me get ready and then we can go," Dinah said.

She walked into her room to get changed, meanwhile Oliver regarded us as if he had no idea what to do with us. Like everyone else. After a moment's hesitation, Oliver just started busying himself by clearing up our dinner from last night. Bucky and I walked over and sat down on the couch. She smiled forlornly at me. I turned away.

"Tommy-" She muttered.

"Don't talk to me," I grumbled.

"Why are you so angry with me?" She asked.

"You know why," I hissed. "I told you to keep quiet. I could've gotten us out of there without all of..." I gestured around us, "this!"

"How?" She asked.

I glared at her, "I would've figured something out."

"No you wouldn't," she insisted. I just looked away. "Where would you have gone, Tommy? Where would _we_ have gone?"

"I know how to take care of myself," I said.

"And what about me? I can't," she said. How did she think of all of this? "Daddy is dead, Tommy," her voice choked up a bit, "I don't have any family. Not really."

I placed my hand on her shoulder, "You have me!"

"You're not my real brother, Tommy," she teared up a little.

"Don't say that!" I insisted.

"But you're not. Not really," she looked up at me, suppressing her tears, "but you do have a family!"

"She is not my family!" I hissed.

She was clearly surprised by my outburst. I didn't care. Dinah came out of the hallway dressed in her casual wear, a light brown jacket over a white tank-top and a pair of yoga pants with a pair of leather boots that came up to her calf.

"OK, let's go," she announced.

* * *

Nothing at all happened. Not in the car ride to the store. Not at the store. Not on the way back. Nothing. I hate it. The entire time it felt like I was watching a bubble grow and grow. The anticipation of it popping in the air. I sat in the living space as far away from the kitchen, where the three happiest people in the world making blueberry pancakes, watching the news. I tried to ignore them, they seemed content to do the same. The news was just rattling on about how there was some impressive new stealth plane at the "Ferris Aircraft" base. Apparently it had the "fastest take off in recorded history!" I didn't know where the base was. If I could find it, maybe it could help me, but until then, I was stuck.

I looked over at them. Oliver was cooking bacon as Bucky flipped pancakes and Dinah mixed up more badder. They all laughed and joked. With her stark resemblance to the two of them, Bucky truly did look like their daughter. They looked like a family. Like something from out of a hallmark movie. It made my skin crawl.

I turned back to the TV where it showed a map of the area where Ferris Aircraft was. After a second, I recognized something. The road that we took to the grocery store was shown. It wasn't far from here! Just a few hours! Plus, I remembered a bus station not far away as well. I would need money though.

I hazarded a glance at the kitchen. None of them were looking at me. Dinah had left her purse in her room. I just had to get there. Slowly I tried to sneak across the room to her door.

"Tommy?" Dinah's voice cut me off halfway to the hall. Hesitantly, I turned to her. "Come join us."

For a few seconds I just stood there in the center of the room. The silence that filled the air was smothering; a horrid musty duvet that completely engulfed me. Her gaze pinned me in place. A small smile played on her lips as she held out a whisk to me in offering. I couldn't help but stare at it as my heart hammered in my chest. I looked up into her pale blue eyes, eyes like mine. Eyes that I had never been able to see before the day before. Eyes that I _should've_ know my whole life. There was a soft sincerity in her eyes, though it hid a darkness behind it. Almost as if, beyond an offer to help cook, this was a desperate attempt to save someone's life. I couldn't tell if it was mine or hers.

I hazarded a glance at Oliver and Bucky, who both seemed to be holding their breath as if my answer was somehow instrumental to their lives. They had both completely stopped working. Their entire being focused on my reaction. Impossibly, it made the silence even more quiet. Even more daunting.

My eyes shifted back to the outstretched whisk in Dinah's hand. I had never heard a kitchen utensil described as intimidating before, but that whisk could be nothing else to me at that moment. I looked at it with more fear inside me than if she had held a pistol. I could deal with a threat on my life, but this was so much more aggressive. In it's demand of congruity, it's absolute requirement for peace, it was disarming. As I watched her hold out the whisk, I felt as if I was looking at someone hand me a nuclear weapon's detonation device. There was no way that it took me any less than hours to respond.

Finally, after eons of that purgatory, I walked into the kitchen and took the whisk from her. Dinah smiled broadly, handing me a bowl of ingredients. I looked from her to Oliver to Bucky, each of them still seemed to be waiting with baited breath. Glancing at the bowl filled with egg, flour and sugar I held against my stomach, I hesitantly put the whisk in the mixture and began to stir. Oliver and Bucky breathed a sigh of relief. Dinah just smiled at me. I raised my eyebrows, not really sure how to respond. Oliver and Bucky went back to what they were doing before as Dinah opened the fridge. As she poured herself a glass of orange juice I looked at the tall stack of pancakes that Bucky had already stacked high, yet continued to add to. I looked down at the bowl I was mixing feeling a bit superfluous.

"Do we really need so many pancakes?" I asked.

Oliver laughed to himself. He smiled at me and said, "These are all because of you, Tommy."

"Because of me?" I asked, a touch defensive.

Oliver's smile didn't waver, "That's right. I remember when I was your age, I could eat four plates of pancakes and still be hungry!"

"Ah," I sighed, "what does that have to with me?"

"Well, we needed to make sure you have plenty to eat, son," he chuckled as he turned back to the bacon.

The whisk froze in my hand. I gently placed the bowl on the counter and walked out of the kitchen. I paused by the entry into the hallway and stared at the floor between my feet.

"Tommy-?" Dinah asked.

"I'm not your son," I stated without any emotion. Then I walked into Dinah's room, gently shutting the door behind me.

* * *

 **|FERRIS AIR  
|** **February 21, 20:16 PDT**

"-one thousand. Forty nine, one thousand," I muttered to myself, watching the guards pace around the corners of the large building at the airfield. "-one thousand. Fifty, one thousand."

I stared at a McDonald's burger wrapper from my dinner as I leaned against the backpack I had bought at a rest stop in a tree just outside the airfield. The bus stopped at a few rest stops on the way to Santa Monica, one of them I didn't come back from, though I doubt the driver noticed or cared. I had gotten to the air field hours ago, but there were guards everywhere, and without any gear I wasn't going to get past them so I had decided to wait until the facility closed. I found a tree that no one would suspect and made myself a decent place to sit about twenty feet up. There were only a few stragglers, it seemed, left at the facility.

My stomach let out a grumble as I picked a piece of cheese off of the wrapper and put it in my mouth. Though I hate to admit it, Oliver was right. I had eaten six hamburgers and was still hungry. Fast food was world famous for being a last resort for anyone who valued their eating experience. For my first time ever eating it, I'd say it was better than some people give it credit for. I will, however, admit that it wasn't nearly as good as those pancakes smelt. No matter how much I tried to deny it, those pancakes had smelled good. I found myself wishing I had eaten before I left, for not the first time that day. With a sigh I pulled my hood over my head to cover as much of my face as I could.

Finally when it seemed like all who were going to leave had left, and I could wait no longer, I dropped out of the tree. I landed as softly as if I had merely fallen out of bed and snuck the forty feet to the fence that surrounded the premises. Being as silent as I could, I snuck twenty feet along the fence to where a small ditch ran just along the fence, about a foot and a half deep by seven feet wide. The fence had been lowered here to compensate for the ditch. Reaching into my backpack I produced a pair off wire-cutters and a pair of workman's gloves. Quickly I set about cutting a vertical line through the chain link fence.

"-forty six, one thousand. Forty seven, one thousand. Forty eight, one thousand," I silently counted to myself as I worked. "Forty nine, one thousand. Fifty, one thousand."

Instantly I ducked, flattening my whole body into the ditch. I quickly slid off my bag and clutched it to my side. Not a full second after I had fully immersed myself into the ditch, a guard walked around the corner. He proceeded to march along the wall rhythmically.

"-one thousand. Thirty one, one thousand. Thirty two, one thousand," I mouthed inaudibly to myself, "Thirty nine, one thousand. Forty, one thousand-"

When I once more reached fifty, I sat up and continued my work. Before the count of thirty I had cut a line tall enough. Placing the wire cutters in my back pocket, I pushed the fence apart, crawling underneath. Once under the fence, I ran to the nearest building, sliding to a stop just behind a set of dumpsters just as another guard passed by me. After he was gone, I peered out at the airstrip. There weren't too many jet planes out of the hangars, and the ones that were looked like they were under repair. There were plenty of helicopters, but they were too slow. I would be stopped before they got up to speed. Suddenly I spotted a jet on the far side of the airstrip. Instantly I recognized it from the news that morning. It looked to be perfectly functional. It had probably been set out of the hangar for the press to get their pictures that day and was going to be driven inside any moment. It was very sleek looking.

Quickly I dashed over around the helicopters and slowly made my way towards the jets. None of the guards seemed to spot me the entire time. Finally, I made it over to the jets. Hiding behind the plane, I lifted myself inside. I suppose the cockpit would've been claustrophobic if I was an adult, but I fit inside perfectly. I found it rather ironic. Quickly I searched the cockpit for any form of keys, but the more I looked the more it became obvious that I wasn't going to find them in the plane. They must lock up the keys at night. I had suspected this would happen, I guess I was just hoping I'd be lucky.

Taking out the wire-cutters and some commemorative duct-tape, I opened up the panel underneath the control board. After a few moment's tinkering the control panel flashed to life. There were quite a few dials and buttons on the console, but I had gotten a book on jets for the bus trip, so I had a vague understanding of how to drive it. How hard could it be?

"Ooo," I smiled to myself, "a shiny new toy."

Quickly I strapped myself in and set about starting the main engine and getting the turbine to speed. Slowly I drove the plane to the runway. Guards ran around like ants who just got their hill torn up by a shovel. One guy actually tried to stand in front of the jet as I drove it. He soon realized I wasn't going to stop for him and ran out of the way. I could hear the siren go off just before I closed the cockpit. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. Somehow, I was managing it!

"Fastest take off?" I muttered to myself as I flipped the last switches, "Let's just see- whoa!"

I was thrown backwards into the seat as the jet rocketed forward. The runway began to quickly disappear beneath me. It took me a second to regain my composure, but once I had, I quickly took a hold of the... stick. OK, so I skimmed the book. I yanked back on the stick sending the jet flying into the air. In mere moments I had burst through the cloud layer. Flying that jet was like nothing I had ever experienced before. I felt a rush like none other! I was in a state of pure awe. The night sky appeared before me, _just_ for me. The sight of the stars all before me, like tears of a god of light, weeping out of joy for my success. I loved every moment. Nothing else mattered for that moment. It felt as if the entire universe was all there just for me.

For the first time in my life, my mind cleared. It was as if I had left all of my stress and anger on the ground. I couldn't help myself, I smiled like a buffoon. I was just so overcome with pure excitement and happiness. The world it'self seemed to be in agreement. I couldn't explain it, but somehow I felt like everything was right. The Earth itself had wanted me to be there. Somehow, I knew that this was where I belonged.

As I tried to keep the jet straight, it slowly began to tilt to the right, causing me to drift. I tried to fight it, but the stick was too stiff for me to move. Using all of my strength, I pulled the stick to the left, causing the jet to veer left slightly. Then drastically. I had over corrected. Quickly I pulled the stick to center it. Slowly the plane leveled out a bit more, but I was still rocketing upwards much faster than I had ever anticipated.

Gently, I tried to pull back on the throttle, but apparently the throttle worked differently from the planes in my book because instead of slowing down, I shot faster than a bullet upwards. I heard the sound of ripping metal. I could only assume, but I was pretty sure I had lost my landing gear. The g-force was so strong that I could hardly breath. My mind started to get cloudy. I was vaguely aware of a red flashing light.

Then, I noticed myself slowing down. My wits finally returned. I started checking all of the meters, trying to figure out what was wrong. The jet came to a stop, just as I saw the fuel gauge was on E. Unfortunately for me, gravity was still a thing. The jet began to shoot straight downwards. Once more I was thrown back into the seat. I struggled to reach the console, if I could activate the air breaks, I would be able to turn this thing into a glider. The force of the fall forced me back so far that I couldn't even reach the stick. Out of the cockpit window I saw the ground approaching fast. Very fast.

"Curse you Newton!" I shouted as I pushed against the g-forces restraining my body.

In a sudden jolt, the jet started slowing down until it hung in midair. Before I could even react, a green light flowed over everything I saw. It got so bright that I could barely look at it. It was coming from a man. He was flying right in front of the plane. He wore a unitard that cover his whole body apart from his head. His gloves were white while most of the rest of it was black, apart from his abdomen and boots which were green. He had an emblem emblazoned on his chest. It was two parallel horizontal green bars with a green ring connecting the center of them all inside a white circle. The emblem was about the size of his head in the center of his chest. He also wore a green mask that covered from his eyebrows to his cheekbones; the bottom came to a point at the base of his nose. His hair was well trimmed and brown. On his right middle finger was a green ring that was emitting some kind of green solid energy that was holding up the jet.

I sighed, defeated. Green Lantern set the plane down gently and then, using more of his solid energy, made a giant hand that ripped off the windshield from the cockpit.

"Alright, buddy, next time you steal a plane you might want to check to see if it's-" he was cut off mid sentence by the sight of me. "Hold on, you're just a kid!"

"Astute observation, Mr. Holmes," I grumbled.

"What- I mean how'd-" he stammered, clearly struggling with the concept of being plane-jacked by a teenager. "Wait," he muttered, "I know you..."

"I doubt that," I responded.

"Thomas?!" He asked astounded. My spirit instantly fell. "You're Thomas Crane."

"No I'm not," was all I could come up with.

Using his ring once more, he made a construct of scissors that cut through my straps, then he made a hand which pulled me out of the plane and placed me on the ground just in front of him. He pressed two fingers to his right ear.

"Hey, Superman, call off the search. I found Black Canary's son," he said. After a moment he added, "Yeah, I was. You're not going to believe this, but the kid took the plane. No, really. I'm looking right at him. Yeah. Yeah, OK. Yeah, I'm just going to take him back to Ferris Air, tell them to pick him up there. OK, roger that." He turned to me. "You going to make a run for it?"

"Maybe," I glared at him. "You never know."

As a response to my sarcasm, he held out his fist. Before I could react, A green cage formed around me.

"Hey!" I shouted. "What the hell?" I punched the bars, which accomplished nothing.

"You said you were going to run," he smiled.

"It was sarcasm! What kind of idiot would run from a Justice Leaguer?" I asked, pounding on the bars.

"You know, I ask that question a lot," he muttered. "For that matter, what kind of idiot steals a plane and doesn't make sure it's fueled up?"

"Well pardon me for not topping it off!" I growled as I kicked at my cage, "If you hadn't noticed, I'm not exactly an experienced pilot."

"And yet, you still tried," he laughed as he made a construct hand to grab the plane and began to fly back to the base.

"I had to do something," I grumbled as I punched the bars again.

"What was that?" He asked.

"I was planning my prison escape," I called up to him. I tried to pry the bars apart to no avail. "You wouldn't happen to have a plastic spork, would you?"

He chuckled, "Sorry, fresh out."

"Figures," I sighed, still hammering at my confinement.

"You know, your mom has half the Justice League out looking for you," he informed me.

I glared at him. "That woman is not my mom."

He raised his eyebrow at my claim, or I assume he did. It was hard to tell with the mask. "Don't try to lie to me, I spent most of my day studying your picture."

"I'm not lying," I insisted. "Dinah Lance is not my mom. She may have given birth to me, but she is in no way my mom. Not in any definition of the term."

Once more he seemed to just look at me for a moment. "Why did you take the plane?" He asked after a moment.

"I wanted to go to the moon and get some cheese," I replied, slamming both fists into the bars.

"Come on, kid. I can't help you if I don't know why you did it," he said.

"Oh, so now you want to help me?" I demanded. "Let me out of this damn cage!"

"You know that will do no good," he educated me.

"I don't care!" I struck the cage with each hit.

"I can make you walk," he warned.

I glared at him, "You'd never do it."

"I wouldn't?" He asked.

"It'd take too long," I told him.

"I've got time," he grinned, "you can start talking, or well, I hope you've got comfortable shoes."

I smirked at him, "I'll call your bluff."

Suddenly the cage disappeared below me. I dropped a few feet before something clamped around my neck, slowly lowering me to the ground. I inspected it to find a metal collar with a chain attached to it leading back to his hand.

"Who said I was bluffing?" He asked.

I glared at him and began walking. It was a long walk, but I wasn't going to let him win.

After about ten minutes he called out to me, "If your feet are getting tired, then you could just start explaining."

"Who's tired?" I called back.

It was cold in the desert at night, but I just pulled my hoodie over myself and grit my teeth.

"If you'd just talk to me then we'd have been there by now," he told me. In response, I flipped him off. He sneered. "If that's how it is-"

Suddenly more chains wrapped around me. I tried to pull on them but they didn't let me move. Looking back, I saw that he had remade the landing gear out of his constructs and chained the plane to me.

"Since you took the jet all this way, it's only fitting you bring it back," he explained. I snarled at him. "That is, unless you just want to talk to me."

He grinned so wide that it looked like his face was going to split in two. In that moment, I hated this man almost as much as I hated Slade. He was so sure that he had beaten me. That he was so brilliant in his defeat of this little punk kid. That I would finally give up and let him put me back in a cage. That I should just be happy to be caged. I was so sick and tired of adults treating me like I should just be grateful. My mother who abandoned me at birth wants me now that it's convenient for her, and I should be grateful. I'm stuck living in an apartment where my bed is a couch, and I should be grateful. I can't get revenge on Slade for ruining my life, and I should be grateful.

I turned away from him, and started pulling on the chains. My sneaker slid in the dirt over and over again. Each time I tried to take a step, I couldn't get any traction. My shoes just kept slipping. I tried to dig in my heels but it did nothing. No matter how hard I tried, the plane wouldn't budge. Sweat poured out from me as I put everything I had into pulling on those chains. Like a mirage, Green Lantern appeared to change in front of me. Slowly his image warped into that of Slade. He laughed at me as I failed to pull the plane. I grit my teeth in anger as I stared at him.

 _"Slade!"_ I hissed to myself. _"Slade! Slade! Slade!"_

The sight of him filled me with a white hot anger. I pulled against the chains with my whole body, throwing my weight forward. I tried to take a step and once more my foot just slipped. I tried to take another and my foot slipped again, this time I fell to my knees. Slade just smiled smugly at me, as if to say, "You're supposed to make me pay, and _this_ is the best you've got? Pathetic." Instantly, though with some trouble because of the chains, I got back up, and pulled again.

 _"Slade!"_ I hissed again.

"That's a full fighter jet behind you, you're not going to be able to-" he paused mid sentence.

Slowly the jet began to budge forward as the construct wheels turned. I took one step forward. Then another. I pulled on the chains, no longer caring about the stupid plane. Another step. Sweat soaked every part of my body. I didn't care. I took another step. My lungs burned with each and every breath I took. I began to take another step when my foot slipped. I just barely caught myself. I was about to try for another step when the chains disappeared. I heard the plane fall to the ground behind me.

Green Lantern landed in front of me. "Damn kid..."

"What?" I asked through ragged gasps, "You gonna make me push?"

He looked at me for a moment. "Slade," he remarked, "Slade Wilson? He killed your father, didn't he?"

I glared at him, "What's it to you?"

"I lost my father when I was young too," he told me. "I'm sorry."

"Slade ruined my life," I said. I clenched my fists at my sides. "I'm going to make him pay."

"That why you took the ship?" He asked. I didn't answer him, which in it's own right, was an answer. "What were you going to do with him?"

"I told you, I'm going to make him pay," I insisted.

"How?" He asked.

I glared at him. "Shut up."

"What were you going to do after you make him pay?" He asked.

"I said shut up!" I shouted.

I took a step forward and tried to punch him. He just stepped aside.

"Is this really what you want?" He asked.

"Shut up!" I shouted again. I punched at him again, this time he let me hit him. I hit him right in the center of his chest, on his insignia. He didn't even react.

"Is this what you want?" He asked again.

"Shut up!" I roared. I punched him again. Again it didn't affect him.

"What do you want, Tommy?" He shouted at me.

"I don't know!" I shouted back. I punched him again. "I don't know!"

I punched him over and over again, shouting, "I don't know!" with every hit. Tears mixed in with the sweat and dirt on my face as I continued to punch at him, over and over again. After a few punches, he moved aside, letting my fist take me off balance. I fell forward into the dirt on my hands and knees. I scraped my right knee and both of my hands on the impact, but my pride hurt more than anything else. I ground my fist into the dirt as tears streamed down my face. I place my forehead against the ground, my body broken and weak. I punched the ground in anger.

"I don't know!" I wept. I began just pounding on the ground uncontrollably. "I don't know!"

A pair of strong hands grabbed mine, stopping my assault on the planet Earth. "Tommy!"

I looked up through the dirt, sweat and tears on my face to see a pair of strong brown eyes locked with mine. His suit was gone, in it's place, he wore a pair of jeans with a white undershirt and an aviator's jacket and boots. The name on his lapel read "Jordan, H." He knelt down next to me.

"It's going to be OK, Tommy," he assured me.

"Shut up!" I tried to throw him off, but his grip was strong. "I'm not a child! I don't need you to tell me that!"

"Look at me," he instructed. "Tommy, look at me!" I did. "My name is Hal Jordan, when I was just a little younger than you, I lost my father too."

There was a sadness in his eyes that confirmed his story.

"And the one thing I needed most," he wrapped his arms around me and, despite my constant fighting, pulled me in tight so that my back was to his chest for a crushing hug, "was someone to let me know that it was going to be OK." No matter how hard I tried to stop myself, I couldn't help but weep openly in his arms. "So I'm here, telling you, Tommy, it'll be OK."

"Let me go!" I begged. "Let me go!"

Despite my constant pleading and fighting, he held his grip strong, until finally, I could fight no longer. He cradled my head as I wept in his arms.

"He's gone!" I cried, "He left me here alone!"

"I know..." he muttered.

"I don't know what to do anymore!" I bawled.

"It's OK," he assured me.

I don't know how long I cried in his arms, but not once did he complain or tell me to stop.

* * *

 **|FERRIS AIR  
|** **February 21, 22:34 PDT**

I sat in the office of Carol Ferris, the executive something-or-other of the whole facility. Apparently she was working late, as she always did, apparently. She had been pretty pissed at me crashing the plane, and taking it for that matter, but when she saw first, that I was a teenager, and second the sorry state I was in, she spared me most of the rant. Or at least, that's what Hal said. I still felt like she had a pretty good time shouting at me. Though at one point she had called me Hal by accident. Apparently he wasn't the boy scout that I had taken him for upon first meeting him. After she had finished shouting at me, Hal had shown me to the showers where he let me clean myself and he gave me a new set of clothes to wear, including his aviator's jacket. I had refused at first, but he insisted under the guise of "I may have gotten hypothermia from being out in the desert at night covered in sweat." I thought that he was just trying to treat me like a scared child because of what happened. Speaking of which, I was surprised that, by the way she treated me, it seemed that Hal hadn't told Carol about the incident. When we got back to Carol's office she had offered me a couple of pieces of leftover pizza on a paper plate. Gourmet, of course. I thanked her and ate it as she apologized that her microwave wasn't working. I kept glancing at Hal, terrified that at any moment he would just burst into laughter at the little child who had bawled his eyes out.

We all were sitting there in silence waiting for Dinah and Oliver to get there. It didn't take them nearly as long as it should've. Oliver must've ignore a lot of traffic laws.

They both stormed in still wearing the same outfits they had that morning, only now they had on matching scowls. Dinah wasted no time and marched right up to where I was sitting.

"Are you hurt?" She asked.

"No," I answered simply.

"Good," sighed in relief. Then, in an instant, she slapped me across the face. It stung for a second, but I was more surprised than hurt.

"Thank you, Hal," she said, turning to him.

"No problem," Hal nodded.

Turning back to me, she said, "Never do that again."

I glared at her. "You can't stop me."

She looked like she wanted to slap me again, I even flinched instinctively, but to my surprise she didn't. It looked like she was fighting back tears.

"Why, Tommy?" She demanded. "Why?"

"'Why?' what?" I asked. "Why did I run away? Why did I steal the jet? 'Why?' what?"

"Why do you hate me?" She asked.

"I don't hate you," I didn't realize what I said until I had said it.

"Then why did you leave?" She demanded.

I steeled my gaze, "I am going to make Slade pay."

"What?" She asked. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"What the hell do you think it means?" I asked. "He killed my father, Dinah! He ruined my life! I am going to make him pay. I _need_ to, and you can't stop me."

She looked so lost for what to say. She turned to Oliver for help, "Ollie!"

Oliver looked me up and down with emotionless eyes. "You're right. We can't stop you."

"Ollie!" Dinah gasped.

"But, you clearly can't do it alone," he added. I grit my teeth. He was right, and I hated it.

"I have a proposition for you two," Oliver told us.

"A proposition?" I asked.

"We are not making a deal!" Dinah exclaimed.

"Hear him out, Dinah," Hal told her. She sighed but gave Oliver the go ahead.

"Tommy, you will not run away ever again. You will stay with your mother and sister in Star City, attend school and never misbehave."

"And...?" I asked.

"The Justice League has another Team, one for covert ops.," he said.

"Oliver..." Dinah warned.

"You can join under the guise of my new protegee, Speedy," he offered, "there, you will help them on your missions. It will give you the gear and means of getting close to Deathstroke. Then you can bring him to justice, by the book of course." Dinah and I exchanged glances, both clearly considering it. "It'll be a good way for you to take out some your aggression in a positive way, plus I think that you could use some friends."

"I-" I started to protest the last statement but he cut me off.

"I've heard that you're a crack shot with a bow, course I'll have to make sure you're good enough for it to be believable that you're my partner, but it won't be that hard. I don't have a partner at the moment, other than Black Canary of course," he explained. "Dinah, what do you think."

Dinah looked me in the eyes. "You have to swear that you'll never pull a stunt like this again. And you have to have _at least_ all B's in school before you're permitted to go on missions. _And_ you have to train with the Team, and only with the Team. No more of this climbing the fire escape!" She insisted.

They both stood over of me, arms crossed. I thought for a moment. This was my only chance at Slade. This would also get me everything I needed to take him down.

"OK," I nodded.

"You swear to honor this deal?" Oliver asked.

"I swear," I told them.

With a firm stare, he held out his hand to me. Standing up I took it and he smiled at me, "Then it's a deal, Speedy."

* * *

 **AN:** I had some real trouble with the transitions of this chapter, which I hope isn't too apparent, but I'm still glad with how it turned out. Anyway, I hope everyone's still enjoying, and as always, thank you for reading.


	5. Chapter 5: Day One

**AN:** Moving swiftly on-

 **DISCLAIMER:** SUPPORT WARNER BROTHERS SO THEY DON'T KILL ME!

* * *

 **|STAR CITY  
|February 24, 07:55 PDT**

"I've been trained by assassins on how to infiltrate an enemy stronghold without being noticed using only a single pocket knife and a paperclip," I muttered, "but I must admit, this is intimidating."

"Don't be so melodramatic, Tommy," Dinah smiled at me, "it's only high school."

I looked out the passenger window of her SUV at the daunting building that stood before me. Aurora High was a tall square gray building just outside of downtown. It was about as basic as high schools went, the only thing that really made it stand out was the massive field behind it. In the center of the school was a small courtyard, just beyond the entrance hall. From there, a path ran down a massive field behind the school to the sports wonderland that funded the school. The path curved and twisted through an open park area before snaking between two baseball fields and to a football field with the traditional high school style of having a racetrack run around it's perimeter. There was a large parking lot that ran alongside the field and the main building. All in all, it was rather impressive, though albeit seemingly very unnecessary. I didn't see the purpose of so much space and effort going into something as trivial as studies. Just as well, apparently I was to spend seven hours at this premises five days a week. Father had had me study for two hours a day. That was all. Despite that, I still seemed to be more educated than any of the soldiers that I could get to talk to me from any of the bases which I stayed at.

"If movies have taught me anything," I said as I stared at the building, "it's that this is about to be the most difficult day of my life."

"Oh, calm down," Dinah said, humor still in her voice, "Here's your schedule." She handed me a piece of paper with meaningless words on it. All I could understand was my name at the top. I gave her an unimpressed look. "I called the principal, he should be waiting for you by the statue of a bull in the main entrance hall. His name is Michael Growing."

Once more I gave her a doubting look, "Do I really have to do this?"

She shoved the piece of paper into my chest, "Yes, you do. Now off you go, or you'll be late."

I sighed and stepped out of the car. Taking a second look at "my schedule" I determined it complete gibberish and folded it up, placing it in my back pocket.

"Tommy," Dinah called from inside the car.

I stuck my head through the open window of the passenger side. "What?"

She handed me a small black square of glass and metal about the size of my palm. "My number is already pre-programmed into it." I took the phone from her with no small amount of wonder. I had never had a phone before. Radios and com-links sure, but never a cell-phone. She held out a gray rucksack to me, "Good luck."

"Thanks," I took the bag, and stringing it over my left shoulder, muttered, "I'll probably need it."

With a sigh of grief, I marched up the concrete ramp that lead to the front doors.

Inside was rather elegant, the entrance hall was a large, open room made out to look like a sort of plaza of some form. The ceiling was raised a couple stories and there was an ornate mural panted on it of what appeared to be a park with people doing all sorts of things from picnicking, to children racing, to some men playing football as well as whatever you could imagine someone doing at a park. There were two hall ways that either direction at the end of the room, with windows along the front and back walls. By the far wall was a life size bronze statue of a bucking bull on a pedestal with doors on either side of it. I could see the courtyard outside of the doors. There were kids everywhere, though it seemed that the youngest were about my age or a little younger, there also appeared to be teenagers several years older than me. They were doing everything you could think of, finishing homework, eating breakfast, exploring each other's bodies in hidden corners until they were found by some staff member. Standing next to the statue of the bull was a tall man wearing a brown suit coat with slightly paler pants and a black turtleneck. His hair was short and black, both on his head and face. He had a short, distinguished beard that appeared to be meticulously kept. He was speaking with a girl about my age. She had long blond hair and was wearing a white t-shirt with pink flowers along the chest and skinny jeans with a red backpack. She was pretty enough, very athletic. The man was in the middle of shouting at a couple of kids who were showing way too much affection to be G rated.

"Go on to class now, before first bell sounds!" He called to them. They shuffled off, seeming very irritated.

"Michael Growing?" I asked, cutting him off.

He turned to me and smiled with enthusiasm, "You must be Thomas Crane!"

"Ah, yeah. Michael Growing?" I repeated.

"Please, call me Mike," he smiled, "or if that's too informal you can go with Principal Mike or Mr. Mike." He offered me a big smile and a hand to shake.

"Tommy," I said, shaking his hand. His hand was small and wiry.

"Well, Tommy, let me be the first to welcome you to Aurora High," his smile never faded as long as he spoke. He gestured to the girl behind him, "This is Suzanne, I asked her to show you around for the day. I'd do it myself, but as you can imagine, I'm rather busy." He looked up as if to confirm that the couple had left.

The girl walked up to me and offered her hand with a small smiled. It looked forced to me. "Hi, I'm Cissie."

"Tommy," I replied cordially. I took her hand and noticed that her grip was much firmer than the principal's.

"If you need anything, Thomas, you need only ask. My office is always open." Principal Mike told me.

"Thanks," I muttered, still feeling very off about the whole situation. With that quick introduction the principal left the two of us in front of a big bronze cow.

"So..." Cissie muttered.

"So?" I asked.

"You're schedule?" She asked, holding out her hand.

"Oh," I took the folded paper out of my back pocket and handed it to her.

She unfolded it and looked at it. Apparently it meant something to her. "It looks like your first class is chemistry with Mrs. Beam," she told me. She seemed to spot something surprising. "You're in archery club huh?" She looked up at me. "I am too. Well, I'm the captain of the archery club."

"Archery club?" I asked.

"Yeah, it says right here," she pointed to my schedule where it said, "CLB-AR Mon, Wed, Fri-Pr 5."

"You can understand this?" I asked.

"You can't read your schedule?" she asked, "What high school did you transfer from?"

"I was home schooled," I said the lie that Dinah had told me to.

"Ah, well, I'll explain it on the way to your first class," she said, leading me down a hallway. "We have second period together, so I'll walk you there too, just to make sure you don't get lost. My first period is Study hall, just around the corner from you."

As we walked, she explained to me how to read the schedule. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I would be forced to go to archery club, no doubt Oliver's idea. The hallways were lined with lockers, interspersed every here and there with a door to some room. Most of the other students had all made their way to their classes, but there were a few who were just hanging around. A couple took a moment to stare at the new kid, but most paid me no mind. Cissie showed me to my locker and tested to see that it opened properly. Then she showed me to her locker, making note that it was just a few dozen lockers down. Afterward we walked in mostly silence.

"I like your jacket," she stated after a moment.

"Uh, thanks," I muttered.

" It looks like a real aviator's jacket, where'd you get it?" she asked.

"It is. It was given to me by... by a friend of the family," I said.

"Ah," she smiled.

I stared at Cissie, not really knowing what to say. I was never good at small talk, never needed to be. Everything I knew about interactions between teenagers I had learned from movies. I guessed that should start with some kind of compliment or something. I stared at her face for a second, she was pretty. Her eyes were brown, coupled with her hair made her look a little like a golden retriever.

"You look kind of like a dog," I mentioned.

Her smile that she had had instantly faded into a glare. "Excuse me?"

"You look like a dog. A small dog," I added.

"Are you trying to say I look like a puppy?" She asked, clearly very confused.

"Yeah, that," I muttered. "You look like a puppy."

She seemed very confused, "What do you mean?"

I just shrugged, "I dunno, you just look like a puppy."

She stopped in front of a door that had a seascape painted on it. "This is your homeroom."

"Oh, uh. OK," I muttered.

"I'll meet you here after first period," she said flatly. I couldn't tell but she seemed upset.

"Yeah, OK," I said.

With that she left me alone. I stared at the door for a few moments before finally entering.

A short, middle-aged blond woman in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt that had a cat in a lab coat on it stood in front of a class of about twenty five students my age. The room was decorated with random scientific equipment and artwork. The desks were lined up in simple rows.

"May I help you?" The woman asked.

"Mrs. Beam?" I asked.

"Yes?" She asked.

"I'm Thomas Crane," I introduced myself.

"Ah, yes, I was told we were getting a new student," she smiled. She beckoned me over "Come here, introduce yourself."

Hesitantly, I stepped up in front of the class. "I'm Thomas Crane," I repeated.

"Oh, come now, there must be more to you than that!" Mrs. Beam joked. "Tell us about yourself."

I thought for a moment, I couldn't well tell them that I was trained to be an assassin. Or that I had just recently taken up the mantle of Speedy. _Or_ that I was on a vendetta against another trained assassin.

After a moment I said, "I'm in archery club."

"Oh, trying to be the next Green Arrow, huh?" Mrs. Beam asked. I tensed up a touch at her statement. "You any good?"

"Um..." I muttered, not sure how to answer, "I've never been in any tournaments or anything."

"Well, I hope you're pretty good, can't let down Green Arrow in his own city, now can we?" she teased.

"Guess not," I shrugged. She seemed disappointed in my reaction for some reason.

"Yes, well... I'm afraid we've already chosen our lab partners, so you don't exactly have a choice at this point, but fortunately for you, we got another transfer student a few weeks ago," she explained. "Kyle?" A kid with messy black hair and green eyes looked up from scribbling something to stare at me. "Would you mind?"

"Uh, nah. Go right ahead," he said. It didn't really seem like he knew what was going on.

Turning back to me, Mrs Beam said, "Great, you'll be Kyle's lab partner for the remainder of the term. You may take your seat next to him."

"Alright," I shrugged.

I took a seat next to him at the back of the class and inspected my new lab partner. He looked like a fifties gangster with his dark hair, leather jacket, white t-shirt and jeans with black boots to top it off.

He smiled at me, seeming friendly enough, "Hey, I'm Kyle."

"Tommy," I greeted.

He held up his fist for a second and stared at me. I just stared at it. It seemed like there was something he wanted me to do, but I had no clue. After an awkward moment, he lowered his fist with a slight frown and went back to whatever he was drawing. I sighed and just tried to focus on the lesson. They were talking about ionic bonds and mapping electrons, which confused me. Not because it was hard to understand, far to the contrary, I learned how to do it when I was seven. I raised my hand, as I had seen kids do in movies.

"Yes, Thomas?" Mrs. Beam called on me.

"Excuse me, but isn't this all a bit... basic?" I asked.

"I'm afraid I don't know what you mean," Mrs. Beam retorted.

"Isn't this kind of, children's stuff?" I asked. All of the other students looked at me as if I had two heads.

Mrs. Beam looked very surprised, "What are you asking, Thomas?"

"Shouldn't everyone know this by now?" I asked plainly. All of the other students began to whisper among themselves.

"Quiet, quiet everyone, please," Mrs. Beam calmed everyone, "Thomas, I'm not sure what school you transferred from, but here we have just begun learning about ionic bonds, but I am happy to hear that you won't be having any trouble with the topic."

With that said she began to continue the lesson as I sighed to myself as the realization of just how much longer I needed to sit through this set in.

* * *

The entire day continued like that, every subject that I went to they were speaking about things that I had learned when I was about seven years old or younger. Cissie had walked me to each of my classes, but each time she had, she spoke to me as little as was necessary. When the time came for us to eat lunch she simply walked up to me and said, "It's lunchtime. We get fifty minutes," and then she left me. I began to realize that she seemed to be annoyed at me for something. At the end of the school day, when everyone was about to head home, she cornered me outside of my math class.

"Oh, hi," I greeted her.

"Come on," was all she said.

"'Come on' where?" I asked. "I thought it was time to go home."

"Not for us," she explained, "archery club remember?"

"Oh, right," I sighed.

She lead me around to the back of the school to where there were two open areas with walls blocking the view inside.

"These are the locker rooms," she said, "The boys is on the right." She pointed. Taking inspection of my jeans she turned up her nose a bit, "I hope you brought something more... mobile to wear."

"Uh..." I stammered. I looked through the rucksack that Dinah had given me that morning and found a pair of athletic pants and running sneakers.

"Good," Cissie said with no emotion. "There's an exit out the back, once you've changed, head to the football field. Mr. Jordan should already have everything set up. I'll meet you there."

"Cissie?" I asked before she left.

"What?" she demanded.

"Thanks," I said simply.

She hesitated for a moment. "No problem."

After finding my gym locker and changing into the pants and sneakers, I left my belongings in the locker and left for the field as she had said. The walk wasn't that long, but it seemed that I had taken too long to find my locker because I looked to be the last one there. There were about twelve other kids at the field where ten targets had been set up along the field at varying distances. The kids ranged from a couple younger kids to what looked to be two seniors. There was one adult in a green track suit standing off to the side as he watched the kids stretch out. Cissie was wearing a pair of green running shorts with a white t-shirt. She stood at the front of everyone, leading the stretches. I jogged over to them and they all stopped stretching.

"Took you long enough," Cissie huffed under her breath. I suppose I wasn't supposed to be able to hear it. "Everyone, this is Tommy. He just transferred here and wants to join us."

Everyone had varying reactions. A couple of girls who I recognized from global history seemed thrilled, while the two seniors seemed annoyed.

I heard one of them mutter, "Another wanna-be Green Arrow."

The man in the green track suit walked over to me with a smile. He had dark skin and matching hair, though his eyes were the shade of warm caramel.

"Hello Tommy, I'm Coach Jordan," he introduced himself. He held out his hand for a handshake.

I took it with a firm grip, "Hi, I'm Tommy."

"So you want to join archery club?" He asked.

I shrugged, "My mom wants me to, apparently." I couldn't help but notice Cissie shoot me a look, though I couldn't read what was behind it.

"Well Tommy, we're always open to new members," he told me, "but we have a bit of an initiation before you're allowed to join fully." He jogged over to the sidelines where there were several quivers and bows waiting. He brought back one of each. Handing them to me he asked, "You know how to put it on?"

"Yeah," I affirmed as I did.

"Good, you'll also need one of these," he produced a leather arm guard. "It'll keep the bowstring from snapping your hand too bad." He handed it to me with a smile. I put it on my left hand and he walked me over to the edge of the end zone. He pointed at the first target at the five yard line. "We need to see how good you are, before we can tell if we want you or not."

It was probably supposed to be a joke, but I just ignored it. Everyone gathered around me as I drew an arrow from the quiver. The younger ones seemed very interested in me, the older ones, not so much. Without any effort I bullseye'd the first target. The gathered audience responded with something slightly less than a golf-clap.

"Not bad," Coach Jordan smiled, "let's try something a bit harder."

He pointed to the second target at the ten yard line. Once more I easily bullseye'd it. This got a slightly more vigorous golf clap.

"Alright, how about-" he began.

Before he could finish his sentence, I shot three arrows and bullseye'd the targets at the twenty, twenty five and thirty yard lines. The peanut gallery seemed very impressed with me. I looked over at Cissie, who was giving me a look like she was simultaneously impressed and irritated.

"Alright cool guy," Coach chuckled, "let's see you hit that one." He pointed at the sixty yard line where the next target lay.

"Oh come on, Coach," one of the seniors griped, "even I can't hit the sixth target."

"Only _one_ of us ever has," someone else pointed out.

"Then he shouldn't feel bad about missing," Coach Jordan chuckled.

Taking a deep breath, I pulled another arrow. Cissie walked over to me.

"You'll never hit it," Cissie told me.

I just raised my eyebrow at her. "Can you?"

She smirked and took out her own bow. Shooting an arrow, she hit the target just off center, though still technically a bullseye. She turned to me with a large grin on her face. I just took a breath and fired. My arrow sailed through the air and struck the target, dead center.

"Whoo! Looks like we got a new team captain!" Someone shouted.

"Shut up, Jared!" someone else shouted at him.

Cissie just stared at the target. "How-?"

"You dropped your shoulder at the last second," I told her. "Makes the arrow warp, throwing off the trajectory just enough."

She glared at me. "You don't have to be such a show off about it."

I glared back. "You want me to be a show off?"

While still glaring straight at her, I shot three more arrows, bullseyeing the first three targets again. Then I turned and fired three arrows in a high arch. They shot high into the air before all landing in the exact same spot as my first shot on the sixth target. Cissie's glare deepened. She looked like she was about to put three arrows in me. A part of me wished she'd try.

"Hey! Break it up you two," Coach Jordan demanded, "Cissie, go finish the warm ups while I talk to Tommy here."

She hissed at me once more before going back to instructing the others, with some apparent heckling from Jared. Coach Jordan lead me away from the others.

"That was some impressive shooting," he said, "but I won't tolerate any fighting in this club. Especially when we deal with such dangerous tools."

"She started-" I began to protest.

"I won't hear it," he held up his hand. "If you're going to be in this club, I need your guarantee. No fights. I'm going to talk to Cissie about it too, but I need your word."

I sighed, "Yeah, sure. Whatever."

"Good," he sighed, "Sorry about Cissie, she's pretty competitive."

"I noticed," I assured.

"She can be a bit hard headed at times, but she's really nice if you get to know her," he encouraged me.

"She doesn't know the meaning of hard headed," I snorted, "but I'll show her!"

"Watch it," Coach warned.

"I won't fight her, don't worry," I reassured him.

"That's all I ask," he smiled. "Keep it clean."

I watched the other kids practice, wishing more than anything that I could show them that that had been me holding back. _Way_ back.

* * *

 **|STAR CITY  
|February 24, 17:12 PDT**

Oliver, Dinah and I sat in the kitchen table finishing dinner as Bucky sat in the living room watching some TV show.

"So?" Dinah asked as we finished our dinner. "How was your first day of school."

"Everyone is an idiot," was my simple reply.

"That's not very nice," Oliver said.

"Not nice, but accurate," I muttered as I scooped the last of my baked beans onto my spoon.

"Well, you'll have to put up with it," Dinah instructed as she scooped more beans on my plate, which I didn't hesitate to begin eating.

"When am I going to get to go after Deathstroke?" I asked, irritated.

"Hold your horses, Tommy," Oliver said, "You need to be patient."

"It'll take more time to get you into the Team," Dinah said.

"No!" I growled, "I held up my end of the bargain."

"You have," Oliver said, "but you haven't even ever been _seen_ as Speedy yet."

"And who's fault is that?" I asked.

Oliver smirked, "Be patient."

I glared at him. "Were you going out as Green Arrow tonight?" I asked.

He hesitated, "Tommy-"

"Then I will go with you as Speedy," I demanded.

"Not tonight," Dinah insisted, "it's a school night."

"Tonight," I insisted. "Or the deal is off."

"Tommy, you can't just-" Dinah began to protest.

"Fine," Oliver agreed.

"Oliver..." Dinah warned.

"If he insists we go tonight, then we'll go. I'll have him back before two AM, I promise," Oliver smiled at her, "Besides, he's right. He held up his end of the bargain. He went to school."

"Exactly!" I stated.

Dinah looked back and forth between us for a moment, clearly debating the matter. "Huh, make sure you're back before _one_ AM."

"Will do," Oliver smiled. Turning to me, he added, "Get ready, Speedy."

* * *

 **|ARROW CAVE  
|February 24, 18:45 PDT**

"Nope," I refused.

"You have to, you're Speedy," Oliver protested.

"I would sooner go out in Superman pajamas," I told him as I inspected the bright red and yellow costume he presented to me. It consisted of a red tunic with red tights and yellow boots, gloves, belt and a yellow hat with a big red feather in it.

"You're Speedy now, you have to wear the outfit," Oliver repeated.

"I'm not wearing that," I stated firmly.

"You're Speedy," he repeated for the millionth time. I could see in his eyes that the suit had some kind of sentimental importance to him. I didn't know what happened between him and the last Speedy, but it seemed that he was almost using this moment as a sort of closure.

"It's completely impractical," I told him, "and it's _way_ too big!"

"Huh," Oliver sighed, "Well you can't go out with out a suit."

"I had a suit," I told him.

"'Had' being the operative word," Oliver mocked.

I glared at him, "I know that Dinah gave it to you, Oliver."

He sighed, "You can't be seen in a costume already associated with the Light if you're going to be Speedy." His eyes got incredibly sad for a moment.

"OK..." I muttered looking around the "Arrow Cave" he had made into his base of operations. "I'll make a new suit."

He let out a loud laugh, "Yeah sure, then maybe we should postpone patrol until next week!"

I raised my eyebrow at me, "You doubting me, Oliver?"

He smiled at me, "Am I doubting that you can make a full functioning costume in less than a few days? Yes."

I grinned at him, "Wait and see, Green Arrow."

In no more than an hour and a half, I stood before him in my new suit. It had generally the same color scheme. I wore a deep mahogany colored pants with thick black patches on the knees for support. A black undershirt cut off just past the elbows, with matching black patches on the elbows, peaked out from under a matching mahogany colored tunic with a thick dark red hide chest piece and shoulder pads. I wore a red dyed leather hood with a bright red mask. On my hands I wore two black gloves with red palms and knuckles, with the left one being much longer and having a thick red leather pad on the inner arm to protect my hand from the snap of my bowstring. The belt and boots I had changed slightly, shortening the boots and darkening the belt a touch, but left them mostly intact. On the leather of my chest piece, just to the right side of my chest, I had embroidered an arrow and a feather crossed over each other.

"Not bad, kid, consider my words-" Oliver stopped mid sentence and smiled at me, noticing the marking I had made on my right chest piece. His eyes seemed to get a bit misty, "Nice touch."

I shrugged, "I figured, pay respects to the past."

He grinned, "Makes sense to me."

"I'm just happy you had so much extra material laying around," I smiled.

"In all honesty, I had forgotten about that. All of that was from when Roy-" he hesitated for a second, "when the last Speedy made his suit."

"Ah," I muttered a little awkwardly. "So, should we head out?"

"Not so fast," Oliver stopped me, "there's still one very important thing left to take care of."

He walked me over to the other side of the "Arrow Cave" (horrible name) to a series of seven glass cases. He pressed a button on the wall and they all opened up. They each held an already strung bow and quiver with an assortment of arrows.

"Pick one out," Oliver smiled.

I walked over and inspected the first bow. It was solid red with a simple recurve design. I picked it up and pulled on the bowstring. I couldn't help the grin on my face. It felt right. I didn't even need to see the others. I turned to face Oliver with a smiled on my face, though when I saw his face, my smile faded.

"That was Roy's bow," he said with a forlorn smile.

"Oh," I stammered, "I'll just-" I motioned to put it back.

"No, it's fine," he insisted. "It's befitting."

"Alright..." I muttered, slipping the quiver over my shoulder.

He walked over and put a hand on my shoulder. With a grin on his lips and watery eyes, he asked, "Ready to go, Speedy?"

I smiled back, "Born ready, Green Arrow."

* * *

 **AN:** This was a thing, and as always, thank you for reading.


	6. Chapter 6: New Members Welcome

**AN: I'm actually really happy with how this reboot is going. Though, I am still working on my other projects (as well as planning a few others) I am mainly going to work on this story for the time being.**

 **DISCLAIMER: I wish...**

* * *

 **|MOUNT JUSTICE  
|February 28, 09:03 EST**

 **"Recognized: Green Arrow, 0-8; Black Canary, 1-3; Speedy B-2-3."** A robotic feminine voice echoed through the cavern as I stepped out of what appeared to be a massive person-grinder with a blinding light coming from the center of it.

I rubbed my eyes, well, I rubbed my eye mask as I stepped forward into an underground cavern.

"Tommy, welcome to Mount Justice," Nightwing's voice greeted me.

Slowly my sight returned enough for me to examine my surroundings. The roof was about seventy feet up and looked to just be a big hollowed out cavern. The entire room was circular and about fifty feet in diameter. There was a large metal cylindrical thing hanging from the ceiling in the center of the room. Behind me were two "Zeta-tubes," Oliver had called them, they were apparently teleportation tubes. On the other side of the room, directly opposite from me was a hall that lead to some other room. Just above the Zeta-tubes and the hall across the room were what appeared to be two observation platforms, but with no glass barrier. Before me stretched a tiled floor with a slightly raised metal platform where Nightwing stood smiling.

"Uh... Thanks," I muttered. I felt a little awkward around him still, after the whole chair incident.

"And, I might add," he added with a smile as I reached him, "welcome to the Team, Speedy."

He seemed very pleased, as if he'd been waiting to say that particular sentence for a while. "Thanks," I said again.

"Well?" Dinah asked from behind me, "What do you think?"

I took a moment to look around the room. "I think all of this looks really fancy for a team of sidekicks."

Nightwing cringed a little, "Yeah, we don't really like that word around here."

I shrugged, "You're the boss."

Nightwing put an arm on my shoulder and smiled at Dinah and Oliver, "I'll take him from here guys, this is Team business."

They both smiled, the seemed absurdly proud for some reason. Oliver looked at Nightwing, "Don't rough him up too much, I just got a new partner, don't need to go looking for another anytime soon."

Nightwing chuckled, "Don't worry, you'll get him back in one piece."

They both left, with one last glance in my direction.

 **"Recognized: Green Arrow, 0-8; Black Canary."** The voice announced.

"Nice suit," Nightwing commented. "Where'd you get it?"

"I made it," I told him simply.

He raised his eyebrows, seemingly impressed, "Not too shabby."

"Hey, before we get with the whole... everything," I muttered, a bit unsure of myself, "can I ask something?"

He waved his hand in encouragement, "Anything."

"Who all... knows? About me?" I asked.

He sighed, "In what way?"

"My past. Who I am. Where I come from," I croaked anxiously.

Once more he put a hand on my shoulder. "Only Superboy, Miss Martian, Batgirl and I, other than Green Arrow and your mother, really know about your past with the Light," he assured me. "Other than that, everyone else just knows that you're Speedy, and you're Dinah's son that had been staying with your father until his passing."

I was still a bit tense, "And... that's enough for them?"

He gave a very warm smile, "They also know that I trust you, and _that's_ enough for them."

I sighed, rather relieved. I looked up at him, I didn't realize that he was about six inches taller than me until that moment.

"You trust me?" I asked.

His smile didn't even falter, "I do."

I furrowed my brow, "I don't really understand how you can when-" I hesitated.

"When you don't even trust yourself?" He guessed what I was thinking. I took a step away from him unconsciously. "Tommy, I trust M'gann with my life. She looked in your head and swears that you're a friend, so that means that I trust you too."

His words made me feel a bit better, but I was still uncertain of myself. Before I could discuss it further, we were interrupted as the Zeta-tube next to the one I came through spinning to life.

 **"Recognized: Wonder Girl, B-2-1,"** the computer announced.

A blonde girl walked through the portal and jogged up to us. She wore a pair of running shoes with red capris jogging pants with two white stripes down the sides. Her top was a tight-fitting black sleeveless shirt with a golden double-W on the chest. Her hair was long and pulled away from her face by a plain black head band. Two silver stars hung from her earlobes which matched nicely with her silver bracelets.

"Ah, Cassie, just in time," Nightwing smiled.

"Hey, Nightwing," she smiled at him. She turned her dazzling blue eyes on me and said, "You must be Speedy."

My words caught in my throat for a moment. I couldn't tell if I was breathing. "Uh, only when there's food involved," was the only thing that came to my mind.

She giggled, letting out the sweetest sound I'd ever heard, "You're funny." She held out her hand to me, "I'm Wonder Girl, but you can call me Cassie."

I took her hand in mine, it was surprisingly calloused and strong for a girl. "I'm Speedy, but you can call me Tommy," I smiled.

"I asked Cassie here to show you around, since everyone else was busy," Nightwing told me. "Myself included. I need to work on translating the Krolotean intel from Malina Island."

"Uh, right. Krolotean..." I muttered, "they're the little alien invaders right?" Nightwing and Cassie just smiled at me. I shrugged, "OK, so I haven't gotten through all of the reading, OK?!"

"Hey, I'm just glad that you're _doing_ the reading," Nightwing smiled, "Some of the newbies don't."

I furrowed my brow, "What? That sounds incredibly dangerous, what if they went up against someone that the Justice League already fought? They wouldn't know anything about them, when they could already know all they needed."

Nightwing just smiled at Cassie. She looked away and bit her lower lip. I started to get the feeling that I had said too much.

"Oh... uh, sorry," I muttered.

"It's OK," Cassie smiled, "I finished the reading eventually."

"Finished?" Nightwing smiled.

"Well..." she muttered, "Tommy! Why don't I take you on a tour!"

"Oh, O-K," I stammered as she grabbed my arm and pulled me through the hall.

"Have fun," Nightwing chuckled after us.

After we made it around a corner and down another hall, her still pulling me just as hard, I muttered, "Sorry about that, I didn't mean to-"

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm not in any trouble or anything. I just didn't want Nightwing to give me a speech," she cut me off. "Also, I have to admit I'm pretty excited, we haven't had a new member since Blue Beetle last year, I got to help convince him to join the Team, but when it was time to show him around the Cave, I couldn't. But now you're here so when Nightwing asked me to, I automatically said yes!"

"That's great and all," I told her, "but could you please stop trying to rip my arm off?"

She stopped in the middle of the hallway. Blushing slightly, she let go of me. "Sorry."

I smiled at her, "It's OK."

"I get a bit excited sometimes," she explained.

"I could tell," I chuckled as I rubbed my shoulder, "You kind of remind me of my little sister."

She looked puzzled. "Little?"

We started walking down the hall. "Yeah, I have a little sister. You're a lot like her."

"Does that mean you think I'm immature?" She asked, she seemed equally offended and curious.

"Oh, no!" I stated quickly, "Not at all! I was just saying how you're-" She laughed as I stumbled over my words. I smiled, "Sorry, I'm not good with words..."

"It's OK, I understand what you meant," she laughed.

"Ah..." I laughed awkwardly.

What was wrong with me? I felt so uneasy around her. As if her mere presence was disrupting my brainwaves. And yet, when I looked at her, I couldn't help but smile. I felt like I was ill, but much worse than I had ever been before. She showed me through the entire mountain, and I mean that literally, the entire mountain was hollowed out for this base. They had everything here! From things you'd expect, like a training room, locker room, gym, showers, medical bay, but there were also rooms dedicated to things like trophies from missions and living quarters. It even had a kitchen with a lounge that had a massive TV that put Dinah's to shame. The entire tour took about an hour, mostly because Cassie just got really excited about telling me about random things, like how the massive sphere of metal in their hangar was really an alien and could turn into a motorcycle. Apparently the metal alien ball liked me, which weirded me out a bit. On the way back to find Nightwing, we ran into two more people. The first was a green monkey in a unitard. Not joking. There was seriously a human sized green monkey in a red and white unitard that stopped at his knees and biceps. The other was Robin, _the boy wonder!_ He wore his usual outfit, a red combat suit with black accents and gloves with a yellow lined black cape and a black eye mask.

"Robin! Garfield!" Cassie greeted them. She half lead, half drug me over to them and presented me like an art project, "Meet the newest team member! This is Speedy."

"I thought Roy was Speedy," the green monkey, who must've been Garfield, said.

"He goes by Red Arrow now," Robin pointed out, "Or, is he retired?"

"I thought Garfield was an orange cat, not a green monkey," I blurted out. Garfield glared at me. "Sorry, can't really turn off the sarcasm," I scratched the back of my head, "Tommy Crane, I'm the new Speedy."

"Huh, noted," Garfield nodded.

I chuckled, "No hard feelings?"

He smiled at me, "Trust me, I've heard worse jokes from Nightwing."

Robin held out his hand and I shook it, "Nice to meet you, I'm the new Robin, so I can kind of get where you're coming from."

"So, 'Robin,'" I said, not letting go of his hand, though I noticed his grip was just as tight as mine, "any reason I don't get your real name?"

He smiled at me, "Sorry, secrecy comes with the whole 'working with Batman' thing."

I released his hand and smirked, "That's a bit sketchy, isn't it?"

He shrugged, "Hey, I'm not the new guy."

I raised my eyebrow at him, "You saying I can't be trusted, Bird-boy?"

He smirked back at me, "I'm saying, I've proven myself, Bow-boy."

"Well, I'll prove myself in no time flat, trust me," I glowered at him, a mischievous grin on my face.

He matched my grin, "Looking forward to it."

Cassie stepped in between us and pushed us apart, I didn't even realize that we had started to inch closer to each other. "Calm down boys, measure your bo staffs some other time."

Instantly we both took a big step back.

"We weren't-" I stammered.

"Uh huh," Cassie quirked her eyebrow at me. "Sure."

She and Garfield started to walk away, with Robin and me in tow. I could hear her mutter under her breath, _"Boys..."_

I couldn't really help myself from grinning.

* * *

We found Nightwing still working on his alien stuff in the main hall. He was working on some holographic computer like I had never seen before.

 **"Decryption completed."** The computer announced. **"Translation completed."**

"Is that the Krolotean intel?" Robin asked as we all walked up.

"What Krolotean intel?" Garfield asked.

"The data files M'gann and J'onn recovered on Malina Island before it was destroyed," Nightwing told us.

"Huh, noted," Garfield commented.

"Glad to see you all seem to have met the new recruit," Nightwing smiled.

"Yeah, we bumped into each other on the way here," Cassie told him.

Nightwing looked back at his work. "Apparently, the Kroloteans were snatching humans to use as guinea pigs. They were hoping to find something. Something inside us." He told us. A shiver went down my spine at the idea that I was almost one of those experiments. I cannot say how relieved I was that the Team had found me.

"What?" Robin asked.

"There's no English word for it," Nightwing said, "the nearest translation is Meta-gene."

"What's a meta-gene?" I asked.

"Never met-a-Jean I didn't like," Garfield elbowed me. I smiled to humor him.

 **"Warning. Unknown energy impulse detected,"** The computer announced as sirens blared throughout the Cave.

Instantly my bow was in my hands with an arrow strung in it. Lightning started flashing in the center of the room, seemingly coming out of nowhere. Nightwing held out his hand silently telling us to fall back.

"Uh, is that normal?" I asked over the crackling sound of the energy ball forming in front of us.

"Definitely not," Cassie told me.

All of a sudden a massive metal pod of some form appeared out of thin air and crashed right in the center of the room. Some form of handle opened up and the door appeared to release.

"Stand ready," Nightwing ordered, drawing his escrima sticks.

Robin pulled out his bo staff and Wonder Girl dropped into a fighting stance. The door opened with a cloud of steam blocking all sight of what was inside, but it appeared vaguely human. A red gloved hand reached out from the pod and gripped the side before a young, maybe thirteen year old, boy in a white and red spandex suit with shaggy brown hair and a set of yellow goggles leapt out of the pod.

Throwing his hands in the air, he announced with a hearty, "Ta-da!"

"Who is-" I began to ask.

 **"Intruder Alert!"** The computer answered my question before I could finish it. A very loud alarm echoed throughout the Cave. **"Intruder alert!"**

"Computer, lock down Cave," Nightwing ordered.

"Well, I think we found our unknown energy impulse," Garfield surmised.

"Impulse? That's so crash!" The intruder cheered. "Catchy. Dramatic. One word." He spoke a million miles a second. In an instant the intruder was behind Nightwing. "Like Nightwing." He dashed over and put an arm around my shoulders, "Or Speedy!" Once more he rushed away, this time appearing behind Garfield. "Or Beast Boy. Except, that's two words. Blue Beetle's two words. Is he here too?" He zoomed over to the hallway entrance. "Nevermind. _Impulse_ can find that out for himself!" He laughed maniacally before striking a pose and rushing off down the hall.

"What just happened?" I asked.

"You four, take him down," Nightwing ordered.

"Four?" I asked. "So, me too?"

"Now!" Nightwing insisted.

Beast Boy morphed into a green cheetah and ran off after him. Wonder Girl _flew_ behind him (apparently she can fly), with Robin and me right behind her.

"Guess that's a yes," I muttered as we ran after them.

I was almost a whole pace faster than Robin, but nowhere near as quick as Wonder Girl or a frigging cheetah, so when I made it to the kitchen, Robin was somewhere behind me and Wonder Girl and Beast boy were nowhere to be seen. What I could see was a red blur moving back down the hall towards me. I shot my arrow at it, but it didn't even get close. I could feel air rush past me.

"Ha! You're never gonna hit me with those!" A voice laughed behind me.

I turned and ran to follow him when too late, I saw Robin right in front of me. I crashed straight into him. We tumbled to the ground in a knot of arms and legs. Before I could pull away from him, his bo staff landed on me. My spine reared back, accidentally forcing my head right into his nose, as a jolt of electricity went through my body.

"Ah!" He complained, holding his nose.

"Ow!" I hissed as I tried to untangle myself from him.

"Get off of me!" He ordered.

"Oh, really? I thought maybe we could spoon some more!" I growled as I tried to get my glove unstuck from where his belt clipped to it.

"What are you doing?" He asked, mortified.

"Just hold still!" I commanded.

"Get off of me!" He repeated.

"Just shut up!" I groaned.

Suddenly a strong fist grabbed the back of my hood and the top of his cape and lifted us both up. I struggled as I tried to look and see who picked us up. After a moment of squirming, I looked over to see Cassie looking very unimpressed.

"I don't think I want to know what you two were doing," she said, "but if you remember, we have an intruder to catch!"

Robin seemed a bit defeated and rather embarrassed. I just chuckled.

"We were playing Twister, you should join us," I grinned.

She put us both down and smirked at me, "Maybe next time, arrow-boy."

She flew off after where "Impulse" had left, back towards the main hall.

I grinned at Robin as we ran after her, "She wants me."

He just grimaced.

When we got back to the main hall, Nightwing had already caught Impulse and handcuffed his hands and feet and put him in a chair that was literally just where the floor had raised itself to form a bench. Nightwing had left to go and get something, leaving the rest of us to interrogate.

"Talk," Robin ordered. "How did you get here?"

"You want me to talk? I'll talk! I love to talk! I talk all the time," he spoke as fast as he could. "I'm sort of a visitor, like for fun. Came to see the golden era, you know! The first Justice Leaguers and all that! When they were in their prime! Most people go to early New York City, but me? I don't see why it's so popular."

"Wait hold up," I stopped him, "early New York City? You mean like, the eighteen hundreds?"

"Well, some do. Some earlier than that, but like I said, I don't get it. I think it's boring, just a bunch of dirt streets and half built buildings," he said, "No. I wanted to come and see you guys! The elite! The best of the best!"

"So you're saying..." I trailed off.

"You're a tourist, from the future?" Robin finished my thought.

"Why so surprised?" Impulse laughed. "Half the meat at comic-con are from my era."

"Yeah, I don't buy it," I huffed.

"Me either," Cassie agreed, "I mean, I know Greek Gods, but time travel?"

"Greek Gods?!" I asked.

"Look, look, look, guys, we should all be friends. I'm really one of you! Part of the heroic legacy, right?" He offered. "My name's Bart Allen. You know, grandson of Barry Allen, the Flash?"

"Noted," Beast Boy remarked. "Not believed, but, noted."

"What's not to believe?" "Bart" asked, "I've clearly got Flash's speed. His amazing good looks. Frankly, I can't wait to meet him! Ah, you know, back when he was in his prime."

Nightwing walked back in with a glass of water. "Well, Bart, coming all the way from the future, you must've worked up quite a thirst."

He walked over and offered the glass of water to Bart who thanked him and began drinking.

"Oh! Ah," Bart exclaimed after a moment, "you're trying to get a DNA sample! You need my spit!" Bart went ahead and just spit in the glass. "Ha, that's such a Dick Grayson thing to do!"

"How did-" Robin muttered.

"See, I know stuff only a future boy would know!" Bart told us. He then looked from Nightwing to Robin, Beast Boy, Wonder Girl and me. "Dick Grayson, Tim Drake, Garfield Logan, Cassandra Sandsmark, Thomas Crane."

"You're name's Tim?" Garfield asked Robin, then turning to Nightwing, "And yours is Dick?"

"So much for the secrecy," I chuckled.

"Oops! Spoilers," Bart cringed, "This secret identity thing is so retro. I mean, you can call me Impulse, or Bart, or Bart Allen or Bart 'Impulse' Allen. It's all crash."

"Tim" turned to "Dick," "Is it possible he might actually be telling the truth? Could he really be from the future?"

Garfield stepped forward, "Tell us something we don't know, _yet._ When do I become leader of the Team? When do I join the Justice League? When do I get my own reality series?"

"Sorry, B.B., never was the best history student," Bart replied, "Besides, we can't risk altering the time stream. We do that, we're all feeling the mode."

"And the mode... would be bad?" Gar asked.

"Doesn't get any worse!" Bart assured him. "Always better to crash the mode."

"Uh... noted?" Gar stated, seemingly much more confused than he was before.

I looked at him with doubting eyes. He didn't seem any different from anyone else, other than his vocabulary, maybe.

I stepped up, "So, 'Bart,'" I looked him in the face, "convince me."

He smiled, "You know, your grandson and I are actually friends where I come from, Tommy!"

I was taken aback, "My what?!"

"What? Is that really a spoiler? I mean, surely you at least have had your da-" He cut himself off. "Oh, doi! You can't yet! You're not a green-"

"OK," I held up my hand, "At this point, I think you'll do more damage than good if you keep talking." I stood up, "That is, _if_ you really are from the future."

 **"Recognized: Malcolm Duncan, A-1-0."** The computer announced.

"Ooh, sounds like a door opening somewhere," Bart smirked, "And that's my cue!"

His hands and feet started to vibrate intensely fast until the cuffs somehow fell _through_ his hands.

He displayed his freed hands with a smile and said, "Bye-bye!"

He dashed off out of sight in an instant.

"Don't worry, the peregrine falcon is the world's fastest bird, he won't get away," Beast Boy said with confidence.

He turned and transformed into a little green bird of prey before flying after Impulse.

"Anyone going to tell him that the peregrine falcon is only the world's fastest bird when _dive bombing_ their prey?" I asked.

"Doesn't stand a chance does he?" Tim asked.

"Nope," Nightwing answered, "Impulse is too fast." He handed the water cup to Tim and pulled up a map on the holocomputer, "But at least we can track him."

"You planted a tracer?" Tim asked, "It'll fall off at his speed."

"It won't," Nightwing corrected, "he drank it."

"Subcutaneous micro-tracker in the water!" Tim surmised, "Nice."

"Thanks," Nightwing smiled. "He's making a beeline for central city." Nightwing pulled out his phone to call someone.

"So... we're not gonna see him anytime soon," I muttered.

"Guess not," Cassie smiled.

"Well that was... eventful," I muttered.

"Yeah, it's rarely ever quiet around here," Cassie smiled.

"Welcome to the Team, Bow-boy," Robin smiled as he patted me on the back.

"Thanks _Tim_ ," I smirked, patting him on his shoulder. He frowned at me using his real name.

"Huh," Cassie sighed as she walked away, "boys."

* * *

 **AN: Feel free to leave a review! I encourage you to leave all of the criticism that you can. And as always, thank you for reading.**


	7. Chapter 7: A Death in the Family

**AN:** Once more through the breach.

 **DISCLAIMER: THIS IS NOT MINE!  
**

* * *

 **|STAR CITY  
|March 19, 20:34 PDT**

The night was rather brisk for California, even in late winter. The sea breeze helped to chill the air around me as I stood on top of a massive crane lift with Green Arrow at the Star City docks. I hadn't ever stood anywhere so high up. I mean, there was the jet incident, but I wasn't standing on my own then. Now, I was crouched on scaffolding about fifty meters above the ground. As I stared at the shipping containers and trucks below me, I felt myself becoming very uneasy. My grip on the railing of the platform tightened a bit; my attempt to steady my nerves, though it didn't help much. My stomach churned at the sight of the drop in front of me and I tried to forget the feeling of plunging out of the sky in a giant death machine. A strong breeze came in off the ocean and made the crane sway just a touch, but far more than enough to make all of the blood drain from my head.

I looked away and tried to focus on the mission. Below us, several gangsters, I counted thirteen, were loading crates into a moving truck from a couple of the shipping containers. Among them, a tall, broad African-American man in a fine tailored suit. He had long white hair that had been dreaded and pulled back into a ponytail. Daniel "Brick" Brickwell. We had been tracking him for a week now. He had been distributing some new drug, the likes of which Oliver had never seen before. Apparently the reactions it cause in people were random and incredibly dangerous. Some people weren't affected at all, while others were left completely catatonic. Some local gangs even began using it to test their new members, to see who's "tough enough to face it." Because of this, it had gotten the street name, "The Judge."

"Speedy?" G.A. asked me, "you OK?"

I grit my teeth and tightened my grip on the railing just a bit more. "I'm good."

"You're looking a bit pale," he added.

I glared at him, "I told you I'm fine."

He shrugged, "OK, I'll drop it." My stomach twisted when he said "drop."

"How are you doing?" I asked him.

His mouth pressed firmly into a line. I had recently found out more about my predecessor than I had ever wanted to know, in the worst way possible. Apparently, the Oliver's previous partner, Roy Harper, had been kidnapped very early on in his career as Speedy by the Light. They had then cloned him, and replaced him with the clone. After the clone broke free of their control, he set out to find the original Roy Harper, who everyone else had ridden off as dead. Come to find out, he found him, sans his right arm, a few weeks ago. The original Roy Harper was now in a hospital in town, but he's been unconscious ever since Clone-Roy had found him. No one seemed comfortable talking about it though. I found all of this out thanks to a conversation with Clone-Roy's wife, who was an ex-criminal named "Cheshire." Though, I wasn't so sure on the "ex" part. The more time I spent around these people, the weirder it got.

"Let's just focus on the mission," he said after a moment.

"OK..." I muttered anxiously. I had no objections to that. I looked back at Brick and his cronies, slightly swooning as I once more realized the vast difference in altitude. They were all focused on the drugs that they were loading into the truck. "They're distracted, we should go now."

GA gave me a very stoic nod. "Let's go."

Reaching into my belt, I pulled out a grappling hook attachment. After hooking it to an arrow, I shot it right at the shipping crates lined up about forty meters away from were the gangsters were smoking and checking their weapons. No one seemed to notice the sound as the hook hit the container, the line that lead up to me, or me as I hooked my bow over the line and slid down it to hide behind the shipping containers. As I took a second to breathe and notch another arrow in my bow, G.A. slid down the line and hid next to me.

"Ready?" I asked. Once more, he gave me a very emotionless nod.

I took a step out from behind the cargo container and fired my arrow at the gangsters. It zipped through the air and hit right in the center of them all. On impact, it exploded, creating a loud bang and a bright flash. All of the gang members who weren't affected by the flash-bang immediately began shooting at us. A couple of the gangsters jumped in the truck and began to drive off.

I stepped back behind the container and shouted over the sound of the guns, "I'll keep them distracted, take care of the truck."

"No, we'll work together-" he tried to protest.

"And let those drugs get away?" I asked.

He glared at me, but nodded. "Alright."

I flipped on top of the cargo container and fired two arrows, destroying the guns of two goons. With a second pair of arrows they were both tied up with bolas.

"Come on, Brick," I taunted, "This all you got? I thought you were supposed to be the new big bad leader of Star City's underworld!"

"Not another Speedy!" He shouted back. "I'm getting real tired of you little kids in red." He turned to his men, "Take him out!"

I jumped off of the shipping container and dropped about twenty five feet. As I landed, I fell forward into a roll and fired another arrow, taking out one of the thugs charging me with a knife. Two more thugs charged me before I could pull out another arrow. The first guy got to me and tried to stab me in my stomach. I hopped backwards out of the way. He stepped forward and tried to slash me across my face. I just grabbed his hand and threw him over my shoulder and into the cargo container. He slammed into it with a heavy _CLANG_. The second guy came at me with a pair of brass knuckles. He threw a right cross at me, which I easily dodged. I kicked him hard in his stomach, then smacked him across the face with my bow. He stumbled back and growled at me. _Ooh! So scary!_ He stepped closer and jabbed at my chest. I took a step towards him and hit the inside of his elbow. His arm crumpled. I punched him in his stomach, then followed up with a strong right cross to his chin. He fell to the ground where I kicked him in his chest, knocking him over. Pulling an arrow from my quiver, I jabbed it into his chest. The tip began spewing foam that quickly covered his entire chest and arms. The foam then hardened into a solid form, trapping him to the ground. I stood up and dashed at the next thug as bullets showered all around me. Running as fast as I could, I slammed my shoulder into the thug's chest, slamming him into another shipping container. He fell to the ground unconscious. I hid behind a stack of ambiguous barrels as the remaining gangsters fired at me.

I looked up at Brick and grinned, "Come on! For a building material, you've got some pretty soft men."

"You know, I think I preferred the last Speedy," he called in reply, "At least he was quiet."

"Sounds like he was boring to me," I laughed. "Not much of a conversationalist."

I hopped over the stack of barrels and fired an arrow at brick. When it hit him, it exploded, knocking all of the other goons around him to the ground and shredding his clothes.

"Again with the suit?!" Brick roared.

In a fit of rage he began throwing random things at me, from barrels, to chunks of massive rocks, to even his own men.

"Dude, it's just a suit!" I shouted, as I ducked and weaved around his projectiles.

"You have no idea what I pay for my suits!" He shouted.

"Then buy cheaper clothing!" I shouted.

Slipping my bow into my quiver, I pulled a pair of metal fist braces out of my belt and put them on. I jumped in and began wailing on him. With each punch, he was driven back a little bit.

"I mean, you could just get like a t-shirt," I said.

"Shut up, boy!" He growled at me. He punched downwards at me. I hopped back and he punched into the ground. Then, he ripped a chunk of the ground up and hurled it at me.

I ducked under it and looked at him. "You know, when you say 'boy' it always feels like you're making it a race thing."

"I said shut up!" He shouted with rage.

I began to notice that the other goons, the ones still conscious that is, began to circle around me, each of them brandishing a different weapon.

"Come now, gentlemen, surely you wouldn't intrude in two chaps having a right proper offing of fisticuffs?" I asked in a mock British accent.

"No where to run, punk," Brick snarled.

"Who's running?" I asked.

"You should've stuck with Green Arrow," Brick taunted me.

"Sorry, he was busy, you know, with real gangsters," I chuckled. "He doesn't mess around with the little fish."

"Enough!" Brick roared. Just then, he lifted up a freaking forklift.

"OK, now it's starting to feel like you don't like me," I teased him.

"You talk too much kid," he snarled.

I readied myself for his attack, but before I could, a green arrow shot out of nowhere and hit Brick in the back. The arrow began spewing foam, covering him until he couldn't move. More arrows shot out from nowhere and shocked the remaining thugs into submission. Green Arrow came running up to me from behind the cargo containers. He ran straight up to me and started inspecting me like I was a piece of meat.

"Are you OK?" He asked, the smallest bit of panic in his voice.

I smacked his hand away from me. "What are you doing?" I demanded.

He seemed surprised by my reaction. "I was saving you."

"You're letting the drugs get away!" I shouted.

He grinned at me, "I already handled it."

He jerked a thumb over at where the moving truck had crashed into the base of the crane, the driver unconscious.

"Oh..." I muttered. "Alright then..."

He threw an arm around my shoulders, "Looks like that's a wrap to your first case as Speedy." He rubbed his right fist into my head adding, "You didn't do too badly for yourself!"

"Hey!" I complained, shoving him off, "Come on, G.A.!"

He grinned at me through his goatee. "Come on, we've got some late Valentine's Day gifts for the S.C.P.D."

I smiled, "Alright, but you're figuring out how we're transporting foam face."

His smiled faltered, "Ah... yeah..." An absolute ridiculous look plastered itself on his face.

I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing.

* * *

 **|ARROW CAVE  
|March 20, 00:23 EDT**

"You know, there's something I've been meaning to ask," I told Oliver as we walked down the steps from the old abandoned bar and into the "Arrow Cave."

"And what's that?" Oliver asked.

"Why do you call it the 'Arrow Cave?'" I asked.

"What?" He questioned, confused.

"I mean, it's not even a cave. It's a basement," I pointed out.

He chuckled, "It's kind of meant to poke a bit of fun at Batman. You know, he's got the 'Batcave' and I've got the 'Arrow Cave.'"

I pouted, "But that doesn't make sense. Bats live in caves. That works. Arrows are inanimate objects. They don't _live_ anywhere."

He raised an eyebrow quizzically. "OK, Sherlock, what would _you_ call our fortress?"

I pondered it for a moment, "How about 'The Quiv-'"

I stopped mid-sentence as we hit the base of the stairs to see Nightwing standing before us with Dinah. She looked as if she was holding back tears. Nightwing didn't look very chipper either. Oliver immediately went to Dinah.

"What happened?" Oliver asked.

Nightwing took a deep breath, almost as if he needed to steady himself. "It's Artemis," he said when hexactly finally spoke.

"Artemis?" Oliver asked. "What about Artemis?"

"She was helping me on a mission," Nightwing explained, "helping the Team to protect a Mars-Earth communication satellite."

I had heard of Oliver's last protégé before me, though after Harpereading, but I had never met her. I had mostly heard about her through my readings of the past dealings of the Team. Apparently she was quite the fighter, as well as one of the first members of the Team. She was Cheshire's sister, so I've read. What confused me was that I had heard that she had retired from the vigilante business.

"What happened?" Oliver asked, I swore I could hear his voice tremble just a touch.

"Oliver... I-" Nightwing stammered.

"What happened?" Oliver demanded.

"We were ambushed, La'gaan got captured and Artemis..." Nightwing continued. "I'm sorry, Oliver, she's gone."

Oliver glared at the ground. Dinah struggled to hold herself together as tears streamed down her face. All Oliver could say was, "Damn it!" Dinah's body shook as she failed to contain herself. Oliver wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into his chest.

Nightwing turned away from them and faced me, "The Team is getting toget her to... to support each other through this. You're welcome to come."

I furrowed my brow, "I'm not sure that I should-"

"Go ahead, Tommy," Dinah insisted, once she pulled herself together a bit, "things are going to get complicated around here. You should go and be with the Team."

My jaw set, but I didn't protest. "If you think it's best."

* * *

 **|MOUNT JUSTICE**

 **|March 20, 03:58 EDT**

I walked through the halls of Mount Justice towards the lounge, where I was told to go by Nightwing. In truth I felt that it was utterly pointless for me to go to this mourning party. I didn't know Artemis, I had never even seen her in person. I felt nothing from her death. Seeing Oliver and Dinah so distraught had been more upsetting than the news had, and I just found their blubbering annoying. I didn't understand why I should go and be with the others, whom I still barely knew. Unfortunately I knew that any attempt to explain this would look like I was just being selfish or rude or apathetic. I suppose I was being all three, but that was what I was used to. Still, I changed into my civilian clothes and I came.

When I got to the lounge everyone was already there, even the members that I hadn't met yet. Conner was standing at the entrance. I paused in the dark hallway before entering into the lounge, uncertain of how to greet him. I wasn't sure why, but a simple "hey" felt as if it would be improper.

Then, he turned towards me. "Hey," he greeted.

"Hey," I replied, simultaneously irritated and relieved at the simplicity of it.

"How are you holding up?" He asked.

I hesitated to answer. Was it rude to tell him that I felt nothing? I mean, I was thinking more about my father than this girl I had never met before. Yet, I still felt like I couldn't tell him that. "I'm not sure," I finally answered.

He rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, it's hitting me pretty hard too."

I debated correcting him, but before I could we were approached by a dark-skinned man and woman. I recognized them as Karen "Bumblebee" Beecher and Malcom Duncan; he helped out the Team from time to time. They both seemed distraught.

"We'll find La'gaan, and Aqualad," Conner said firmly.

"No doubt," Malcom confirmed. "Where's Nightwing? He should be here."

Conner sighed, "He went to tell Wally."

"Wally?" I asked.

Conner paused for a moment, "Wally was Artemis's boyfriend."

"Oh," I muttered.

Karen looked at me and forced a smile. "You're Toby right? The new Speedy?"

"Tommy Crane," I corrected.

"Right," she said. "I'm Karen."

"And I'm Mal," Malcom introduced himself. "I wish we could've met under better circumstances."

"It's just the way things are," I said plainly.

He frowned at my comment. "How are you taking everything?"

"Me?" I asked.

"You're part of the 'Arrow Family' now," he pointed out.

"Family huh?" I murmured under my breath. "I'm fine."

"Did you ever meet Artemis?" Karen asked.

I felt awkward as I shook my head, "No. I never got the chance."

Karen smiled sadly, "I'm sorry about that, she would've liked to meet you."

I felt incredibly awkward, once more thinking that I shouldn't even have come. I was saved by Cassie from across the room waving to me.

"Excuse me," I said, moving to stand by her and Tim sitting at the breakfast nook by the kitchen.

When I got there, Cassie seemed a bit surprised. "Oh, I didn't mean you had to leave your conversation," she muttered.

I shrugged, "It's fine." I decided to add in the question everyone seemed to be asking, "How are you doing?"

Tim gaped at me, "Us? What about you?"

"Me?" I asked. Why was everyone so interested in me?

"You're Green Arrow's new partner," Tim told me.

"Yes?" I asked.

He seemed to be taken off guard by my response. "I just thought..." He stammered.

"We're just worried about you," Cassie clarified.

I shrugged again, "I never knew her. Honestly, I don't even know why I'm here."

Tim clenched his fist. "You don't have to be so cold," he snapped.

Cassie placed her hand on my arm. "You're here to support us, and we appreciate it." It sounded as if she were trying to instil the idea in my head, and Tim's for that matter, for me.

"Are you OK?" I asked them.

Tim relaxed a bit, "I'm alright. Mostly."

Cassie's grip on my arm tightened a bit, though I don't think she realized that she had, or that she hadn't let go. "I'm..." Tears welled up in her eyes. Her composure began to break as sobs racked her body.

I found myself desiring to comfort her, though I wasn't sure why, or how to for that matter. Looking over, I saw Malcom holding Karen around her waist. I thought back to what Hal did for me in the desert and how Oliver comforted Dinah. Decisively, I wrapped my arms around her shoulders and pulled her head into my chest. She resisted for just a moment before she began to sob and collapsed into my embrace. She wept into my chest, soaking my shirt and making it stick to my chest. It was unpleasant. As she sobbed more and more, I pulled her closer to me to try and comfort her. She was warm against my body. She was quite a bit shorter than me. I could easily rest my chin on her head as I held her to me. I didn't imagine that I smelled particularly soothing, likely of sweat and the old leather of Hal's aviator jacket, though she didn't protest. She, however, smelled like lavender. It was likely her shampoo or soap, but it was a nice smell. Tim gave me a look that I couldn't place. It seemed to be a mix of anger, grief and longing. I didn't understand it.

As I felt her body shake against mine with every sob, I could feel a pain grow in me. Thoughts of my father's face permeated my mind. I was still so confused about whether I loved him or hated him. Now, I didn't even have the chance to determine that. He went and died on me. He left me alone. I didn't know Artemis, but these people didn't seem to have that kind of confusion and anguish on top of their mourning. If I didn't know anything else, I would still admire her for that. Deep inside of me, I began to feel as though I had truly missed out in not meeting this woman, and I did regret it.

Cassie pressed her face into me as she sobbed, "I can't believe she's gone..."

I looked up to Tim with a stern expression. "It was Aqualad who did this?"

He glared at the floor, nodding slowly.

Cassie recovered some of her strength and pulled her head away, leaving a wet spot on my shirt and a slight longing in my chest. "He was supposed to be our friend." she growled.

"We'll get him," Tim told her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

Cassie pulled away from me fully. She smiled at me, "Thanks, Tommy." Then noticing the dark spot she had left on my chest she gasped. "Oh, I'm sorry."

I waved off her apology. "It's fine. Don't worry about it."

She smiled, much smaller this time, and wrapped her arm around mine. "Well thank you, I needed that more than I thought."

I shrugged, trying to ignore my heart beating rapidly. "It was nothing."

She let go of my arm and smiled, though sadness still showed in her eyes, "That's sweet."

I was a bit confused as to how what I did was sweet, but I decided against arguing it. "I wish I could've met her..." I said.

Cassie let out a humorless laugh, "You would've gotten along just great."

"You think so?" I asked.

"Yeah," she smiled. "I think she would've."

* * *

 **AN:** Sorry this is taking so long, but in my defense, I'm writing a book. Something I can actually, you know, MAKE MONEY doing. Ha ha. Never fear though, I still want to finish this story. And I still have plans to do so. And as always, thank you for reading!


	8. Chapter 8: Identity Crisis

**AN:** Let's rock and roll.

 **DISCLAIMER:** Nope.

* * *

 **|STAR CITY**

 **|March 22, 14:22 PDT**

I paced back and forth in a hallway of a hospital in downtown Star City as Dinah sat in a chair right beside a _certain_ door where a _certain_ person was staying. She sat there, holding a paper bag in her lap and watching me walk.

"Do you _have_ to do that?" She asked me impatiently.

"What?" I asked, not even having realized what I was doing.

"Pace?" She asked.

"I- what?" I stammered.

She sighed and stood up. Walking over to me she placed her hand on my shoulder, "Come on, sit down."

She led me over to the chairs and sat me down next to her. Unconsciously, I began to bounce my leg on the toe of my sneaker. Dinah placed her hand on my knee to stop me.

"Look, I understand that you're nervous, but you have to calm down," She soothed.

"Nervous?" I asked. "Who said I'm nervous?"

She raised her eyebrow at me, a smirk playing on her lips. "Oh, you're not nervous?"

"What do I have to be nervous about?" I asked.

A frown worked it's way onto her face. "Tommy, no matter what happens, you're still Oliver's partner."

I stood up and waved her off. "I know that!" I insisted. I swore under my breath, "Why did we even come here?"

"We're here to support Roy," Dinah's face puckered a little, "Both of them. Ollie too."

I glared at the ground. "I don't want to be here."

Dinah's face softened. She stood up and held my shoulder gently, "None of us do. No one wished that we'd ever have to. And at the same time we all wished that we'd be able to."

"That doesn't make any sense," I complained.

She smiled softly, "Tommy, Roy has essentially come back from the dead. You can appreciate the significance of that can't you?"

I let out a sigh, "I just seriously doubt that he'd ever want to meet me."

Just then, the door opened and Oliver's bearded face poked out. "Tommy, would you come in here please, Roy would like to meet you."

I stared at him for a moment. My eyes darted back and forth from him to Dinah. She smiled encouragingly. Taking a deep breath, I walked into the room. Oliver and Clone Roy were both standing over a red haired boy about my age in a hospital gown sitting in the bed. His right arm looked like it had been removed just under his bicep, which was wrapped in bandages.

"You're the new Speedy?" He asked.

"I'm Tommy," I said awkwardly. "Tommy Crane."

"So where'd you come from?" He asked.

"I, uh," I stammered awkwardly, "I'm Dinah Lance's son."

"Dinah Lance? As in Black Canary?" He asked. "I didn't think that she _had_ a son."

I shrugged, "Kind of a 'long lost' sort of thing."

He frowned at me, then turned back to Oliver. "So, let me get this straight, while I was on ice, you found another Roy Harper, another Speedy, the sidekicks formed their own team, aliens invaded the Earth, and Ollie grew that dopey goatee?"

"We try not to call ourselves sidekicks," Clone Roy complained.

"You don't like the goatee?" Oliver asked.

"I kind of just started," I offered.

"So missing the point!" Roy snapped. "You've both been talking around it all day, now I want answers. What happened to me? How can there be another Roy Harper? And what happened to my arm?!" He understandably shouted the last question.

"OK, OK, we wanted to wait until you were strong enough, but I guess the moments here," Clone Roy relented.

"Moment's passed," Roy snapped, "get to it."

I did my absolute best to hide in the corner as they all spoke, once more wondering of my importance there.

"What's the last thing you remember before we found you in Tibet?" Clone Roy asked. I was going to need something better to call him.

"I've been trying to piece that together," Roy muttered. "I rememberries investigating a Lex Corp shell company that we suspected of smuggling weapons to North Rhelaysia. Some Lex Corp goons got the drop on me. I remember feeling... embarrassed. Then nothing."

Oliver walked over and sat on the bed beside Roy. "That's right, they grabbed you," he told Roy, "the thing is Roy, that was eight years ago."

"What?" Roy asked.

"Lex Luthor and the Light, this criminal organization he works with, abducted you," Clone Roy explained, I flinched a little when he mentioned "The Light," "they amputated your arm."

"Why?" Roy asked. "To keep me from using my bow?"

"No," Clone Roy told him, "they needed an endless supply of your DNA to perfect their human cloning process."

Roy looked at his arm for a moment. Then he looked back up at his clone. "So that's what you are," Roy commented, "a clone."

"Yeah," Clone Roy lamente, "they grew me, or rather, force-grew me. In a matter of months I looked your age. They programmed me with all of your memories and skills and... and worse."

"Then they spoon fed me clues to your location," Oliver chimed in. "I thought I was doing detective work, but in hindsight... You'd been missing three months! I'd been going crazy, so when I found you- him, I didn't question the good fortune. I didn't know it wasn't the real, the original, you. No idea Luthor had stored you on ice all this time."

Roy's brow furrowed. He looked at Clone Roy, "So, what you're saying is, you took my place. You've been living my life for eight years."

"And he's been tirelessly searching for you for five of those years," Oliver came to his defense.

"Huh, but not you Ollie. You gave up on me," he summed up.

Clone Roy stood up. "I don't want to be the cause of more conflict between you two. I'd understand if you never wanted to lay eyes on me again."

Roy looked from him to me. "I don't know, seems to me like the clone didn't do anything wrong. He didn't ask to be created. Plus he found me. And new guy over there wasn't involved. I can't blame them for this." He lurched up and grabbed Oliver's arm, shouting, "But I can totally blame you!"

"Roy I-" Oliver stammered.

"We were partners, friends!" Roy snapped. "How could you not know I'd been replaced? How could you have left me in Luthor's hands for eight years?!" Oliver looked away, unable to dispute the accusations. "And how did I not realize how useless you are?"

I glared at the floor, Clone Roy seemed to notice. I opened my mouth to defend Oliver, but before I could, Clone Roy looked at me and shook his head, stopping me. I growled to myself, but didn't say anything. It may not have been my place, but it still pissed me off. I didn't care if I wasn't there. I didn't care if I knew nothing about the situation. I knew that Oliver didn't deserve any of that.

"Get out," Roy ordered. "Get out!" Oliver solemnly stood up and left the room.

Roy turned to face his clone and said to him, in a confused voice, "Look, uh, Roy, I need some time to process all of this."

"I understand," Clone Roy said. He followed Oliver out.

I turned to follow them both out, but before I could reach the door, Roy said, "So that just leaves you."

I turned to face him. I couldn't tell what was on his mind. His expression was impossible to read.

"You got something to say to me now?" I asked.

His brows came together. "I just wanted to say, I don't have anything against you. You weren't involved with any of this, you got dragged in after the fact, but I will warn you now. Stay away from Oliver Queen. He'll bring you nothing but pain."

I locked my eyes with his. I couldn't help but think of Artemis. All of the past three partners of Oliver wound up in some sort of trouble, or worse. And yet, as I looked at him, I just couldn't get over what he'd said to Oliver. I just glared at the tiles of the floor. Finally, when I couldn't contain my anger, I stormed out the door before I started shouting at him.

Dinah was sitting right where I had left her, nibbling absent-mindedly on a burrito. She looked up at me with sad eyes. "I take it by everyone's expressions that it went poorly."

I set my jaw angrily. "They should've left that prat on ice."

"Tommy!" Dinah gasped.

"It would've been better for everyone!" I snapped.

Dinah just sighed at me as I sat down beside her. She handed me the burrito and I angrily took a big bite then handed it back. I didn't even taste it, I was just too mad.

"You need to be patient with everyone right now," Dinah told me, "Roy and Oliver especially."

I didn't respond. I just sat there angry. "Where's Oliver?" I asked, "I want to talk to him."

"He and Roy- well, Roy's clone went to the hospital's chapel," She told me.

I got up to leave but paused when she didn't follow. "You coming?"

"I think I should go actually. One of my friends is getting married and I'm late for the bridal shower," She explained.

To me it sounded like an excuse, but I didn't argue. Everyone seemed to be avoiding each other with all of the recent events. I wasn't surprised, though it did make things complicated. She gave me a quick hug, I didn't resist, but I didn't hug her back, and then she left.

When I got to the chapel I paused at the door. I had never been to a chapel or church before. For any religion. My father was a man of science and said that religion was just stories people told each other to help them know what to think. He never said if he had a religion and when I asked him about it he usually just gave me a run around.

"It's a curse, isn't it, having me for a mentor?" I heard Oliver's voice from the other side of the door. "Speedy, Red Arrow, and... Artemis, the three of you, all poster children for the 'stay away from Green Arrow club.'"

I froze, unsure if he was talking to me. I was relieved when I heard Clone Roy answer. "I may not have always shown it over the years, but I don't feel that way. Neither did Artemis. And trust me, I know Roy doesn't feel that way, either. Not really."

"I don't know," Oliver sighed. "With everything that's come up, I'm starting to think that I should just let Tommy go. He'd be better off without me."

I could feel my muscles tense up. He wouldn't dare back out on our deal, would he? Slade's smug, smiling face appeared in my head. Unintentionally, I clenched my fist so hard that my fingernails cut into my palms.

"Don't you say that, Ollie," Clone Roy insisted. "He needs you just as much as Roy does. Not to mention that you need him too. Ever since you took on another partner, you've been more like yourself than I've seen you in a long time. You two work well together. Roy and Tommy, they're a lot alike. Both have been through a lot. They're both good kids, who deep down want to help people. They've just been hurt too much. You can help them. You're a good man, Ollie, so get back in there. Roy and Tommy both need you, whether they know it or not."

My clenched fist slowly released. As I listened to them, something inside of me hurt. I couldn't tell what it was, but it felt like something was gnawing at my insides. Just then, I heard them getting up. I quickly backed away several meters. I faked as if I were just coming down the hall and hadn't just been spying on them.

They both stepped out of the doors seeming to be surprised that I was there. I stood there awkwardly.

"Why'd you both leave me alone with that jerk?" I asked.

The corners of Clone Roy's mouth curved downward as he looked at me. "We were just having a discussion," he said.

"Anything interesting?" I asked.

Oliver half-smiled, "Not really."

"Huh," I put my hands in my jacket pockets, "so what now?"

"We're going to go back and talk to him again," Oliver said, much more determined.

I scowled, "Does this really have to involve me?"

Clone Roy smirked and put a hand on my shoulder, "Come on, you're a part of the Arrow Family now."

They led me back towards Roy's room. "So everyone keeps saying," I griped. "Hey, by the way, what are we supposed to call you now?"

Clone Roy raised his eyebrow at me, "What?"

I shrugged, "I mean, 'Clone Roy' sounds rude."

He gave my head a playful shove. "That's enough of that."

"Hey!" I complained. "I still need to know what to call you."

"Is this really the best time to talk about this?" He asked.

"Hey, if I'm 'part of the family' now, I need to know what to call you. 'Mr Harper' is too formal," I pointed out.

Clone Roy looked to Oliver. His mind seemed to be elsewhere. After a moment he said, "Just call me Red."

I nodded, "See that's simple and easy to remember. I like it."

He gave my head another playful shove. "Quit it Grant!" I said, reflexively.

"So much for easy to remember," Red scoffed. "You already forgot. Who's Grant anyway?"

I hesitated for a moment. "No one," I stated flatly. I quickened my pace so that he couldn't pursue me further on the topic. We got back to Roy's room and Oliver opened the door.

"Roy, listen. I-" he was cut off as we all entered by the flapping of the drapes. The room was empty and the window was open.

"Here we go," I grumbled.

"Come on, I've got an idea as to where he might go," Oliver ordered.

* * *

Oliver lead us inside to one of our weapons cashes at the back of an alley downtown. There was a false brick wall concealing the door. "This is the only place I've maintained since Speedy's day." I frowned at him. "Uh, the first, Speedy."

"See, this is why we figured this out earlier," I said. I pointed a thumb at my chest, "Speedy," I then pointed my thumb at Red, "Red. And the original is Roy."

"I guess it was good you brought it up," Red muttered.

"I'm not as dumb as I look," I said.

"Um, anyway," Oliver stated. "There are other places that Spe- uh, Roy might go."

"But not where he could get himself in trouble," Red finished.

Red placed both of his hands on the brick wall and leaned in close. A panel opened up and a retinal scanner scanned his eyes.

 _"Recognized. Red Arrow,"_ the computer announced. An alarm buzzer started beeping. _"Error. Red Arrow already inside. Security breach. Lockout."_

"Perfect," both Red and I said simultaneously.

"Override lockout. Green Arrow, zero-eight," Oliver said, stepping forward and letting the scanner read his rentals.

The wall split apart and we all rushed in to see a room with weapons and outfits lining either wall. Roy wearing an old Speedy uniform, minus the hat, was standing in an active Zeta-tube directly in front of us. He had a mysterious bag over his shoulder.

"Roy wait!" Oliver called.

"Sorry, G.A., can't let you stop me," Roy told him. With that, he disappeared into the Zeta-tube, leaving his hat and a beeping grenade.

"Get down!" Red shouted, tackling Oliver to the ground.

I lept back out of the compound just in time for the explosion to blow my eardrums halfway to kingdom come. Fire spread throughout the cashe. Instantly the anti-fire sprinkler system kicked in to quell the blaze. When it was over, the Zeta-tube was nothing but debris.

"Great, we can't follow," Oliver complained.

"But we can find out where he went," Red rushed to a computer along the wall and began to work. Before long he pulled up a map. "He zeta-ed to Metropolis."

"Metropolis? Why would he-" Oliver asked.

"Luthor," I said.

"What?" Red asked.

"He's going after Luthor," I explained.

Red shook his head, "Roy wouldn't-"

"No, _you_ wouldn't," I corrected. "Roy's not the same as he was when you knew him, Oliver. And whether or not you realize it, you're different from Roy, Red."

Oliver and Red shared a look. "He wants revenge on the man who stole his life and his arm," Red realized.

"If he goes after Lex Luthor, then Luthor will kill him," Oliver stated.

"We have to get there first," Red insisted.

"Then what are we waiting for?" I asked. "Let's suit up."

* * *

 **|METROPOLIS**

 **|March 21, 19:11 EDT**

Once we got to Metropolis, we split up. Luthor was the type of man that could've been anywhere. Naturally the first place to check was Lex Corp tower, but in reality, we weren't even sure he was in the city. Of course when I saw the four story fireball coming from the top floor, I had a pretty good idea that he was.

 _"You hear that?"_ Red Arrow asked over the Com-link.

"I see that," I confirmed. "Moving to intercept the shooter."

 _"No, wait for back up,"_ Green Arrow ordered.

"There's no time!" I hissed, "I'm going."

Traveling over the rooftops, I rushed to the top of the building opposite from Lex Corp, where the rocket had come from, to find a discarded bazooka and binoculars. I must've just missed him.

That was when the Lex Corp strike team showed up, breaking down the door from the building. They all trained their weapons on me. I swore under my breath at my stupidity.

One of the soldiers put a finger to his ear. "Sir, we've found him. It looks like it was Speedy."

"Hey, hey, hey, guys, it's not what it looks like!" I told them.

None of them listened to me. I'd didn't seem like they were in the mood for a dialogue. My bow felt a bit heavy in my hand as the situation tensed.

"Oh, I don't have time for this!" I shouted.

I jumped forward, knocking down the first soldier with a solid kick to his chest. The remaining guards began to shoot at me, but I didn't stay one place long enough to let them hit me. I charged the closest guard, grabbed his gun and used its sling to drag him toward me. Then, using the stock of his owngun, I smacked him across the face. Using my bow, I slapped another guard across the chest, knocking the wind out of him. One guard behind me took out a knife and tried to stab me in the back. Before he could, I grabbed his wrist and twisted it, forcing him to drop the knife. I caught it before it hit the ground and used the handle to punch him in the face. He backpedaled as he held his face in pain. I hooked my heel behind his ankle, tripping him. Before he even hit the ground, I raised my boot into the air and slammed my heels into his face, driving his head into the floor. The guards reasonably began to panic, getting more and more erratic. As I fought with one of their men, another threw a grenade at me. Quickly, I dove forward it, grabbed it and slapped it to anotice arrow, then fired it upward just before it exploded. Quickly, I rushed forward and dispatched the last guard with a strong jump kick to his solar plexus.

"Huh," I breathed, having finally knocked them all out, "tedious."

"Now," I muttered to myself, "where did you go..."

More guards would be arriving soon, I needed to find Roy. I walked back over and inspected the smoking building. Roy would've been trying to get to Luthor, but he was much too smart to think that a simple missile would kill him. He must've just been trying to flush him out, but to where? I spotted an entrance/exit to an underground carpark at the base of the buildings. It was standard evacuation protocol to get all high ranking persons out asap through the basement in the event of attempted assassinations. Grant, Rose, and I had trapped many people using such knowledge. Well, more than trapped...

I took out a grappling hook arrow from my quiver and shot it at the entrance to the underground parking garage. It hooked into place just above the "Exit" sign. I hooked the second end of the rope to a spike which I firmly implanted into the roof. Before I could slide down, more guards appeared on the roof.

I smiled at them all, "Sorry boys, can't stay and chat. Kiss kiss."

Before any of them could react, I ran and jumped off of the roof. In mid air, I hooked my bow over the top of the cord and slid down, rolling when I landed. I only had time to cut the cord with an arrow before the soldiers began shooting at me from the rooftop. I quickly ran down into the parking garage.

As I checked through the parking garage for any sign of either Luthor or Roy, I couldn't shake this serious uneasy feeling. The whole day, I had been so uneasy. I hadn't told anyone about it, but I was starting to get really worried about my role. I tried to not think about it, but still the question pervaded my mind. "What if Roy still wanted to be Speedy?" The thought made me angry. I honestly didn't know what Oliver would say if it came to that. We had had a deal, yes, but it was more than that. I felt like I had earned my place by Green Arrow's side, by Oliver's side. I was his partner now. I was Speedy. It bad become the one thing that I was sure of. It was the one constant I had left. I wasn't going to let Roy take that away from me.

Ahead of me, I saw Roy crouched behind a car, hiding with a rifle in his hand.

"Roy!" I shouted.

He looked up at me and scowled. "Get down you idiot, you'll blow my cover!"

I paused when I saw him, unsure how to react. "What are you planning, Roy?" I asked.

He stared at me, "You really have to ask? I'm going to get revenge on Luthor for taking my life from me. Not to mention my arm." We locked gazes for a moment. "By the way, nice suit. I never did like the stupid hat."

I glared at him. I was so conflicted. If I didn't stop him, he'd kill Luthor, or die in the process. At the same time, _could_ I stop him? In reality, his goal was no different from mine. He only had a different target. In stopping him, I'd be admitting to myself that it was wrong. However, I didn't know if I was prepared to watch him kill a man in cold blood. Slade's face once more plagued my mind.

"You're not going to try and stop me," he pointed the rifle at me, "are you, Tommy?"

My scowl deepened. "The name's Speedy."

"Yeah, right," he scoffed. "If you're not going to stop me than get out of my-"

"You know what, Roy, I realize that you went through some tough crap," I said, "but you're still just a dick."

He scowled at me. "What?"

I glared at him, "Bad things happen to good people. That's life. You lost your arm and slept for a while. I know people that wish they had it so good, so you can quit your crying and grow up already."

"I lost eight years of my life!" He shouted.

"I grew up as a science experiment! You don't see me crying about it!" I snapped. "And you don't see me taking it out on my friends either."

He pointed the gun directly at my chest. "You gonna try and stop me, Tommy?"

"No. That would be too hypocritical," I said, standing up. "If you die, it's your fault."

He smirked, "So be it."

* * *

A little while later, I waited outside of Lex Corp, staring at the building as it still smoked. Helicopters and sirens filled the air. I sat against the hood of a car, turning a knife in my hands. Green and Red Arrow both ran up to me.

"No. We can't be too late," Green Arrow gasped at the sight. "I cannot have failed him again!"

"No, wait. Look!" Red Arrow called.

We all looked to see Roy walk out of the smoke pouring from the parking garage exit. He was carrying a metal briefcase and smirking.

"Hey, guys," he greeted, "what took you so long?"

"You're alive," I commented.

"Mostly," he shrugged.

"Roy! Are you alright?" Green Arrow asked.

"I'm good," he responded casually. "Well, better than I've been in eight years anyway."

"You didn't-?" G.A. asked.

"Kill Luthor?" Roy finished. "No. Not tonight."

"What's in the case?" Red Arrow asked.

Roy displayed it proudly. "Satisfaction." He placed the case on the ground and opened it up, revealing a large black metal arm. "It's not elegant. It won't fool anyone into thinking that it's actually flesh and blood. But it's more powerful and versatile than the model Luthor gave his own bodyguard, and it will literally make me a living weapon. No one's putting me on ice again. Ever."

"Speedy, you sure you're OK?" G.A. asked, concerned. I felt a twinge in my chest as he called Roy Speedy.

Roy jerked his thumb at me, "He's Speedy now. But I kind of like the sound of Arsenal."

I inspected the arm. Then looked up at him. "The whole 'living weapon' thing is overrated," I told him. "Trust me."

He just smirked, "As if you'd know."

I turned away from them and began to walk away, "You have no idea."

"Speedy," G.A. called out, "where are you going?" I ignored him and kept walking. "Hey, Speedy, wait!"

He reached out and grabbed my shoulder. I whipped around and snarled at him, "OH, you're talking to me now, are you?"

He jerked back in surprise, "Speedy, are you-"

"I don't know, am I?" I roared.

He frowned at me and placed his hands on my shoulders, "Hey, Tommy, what's wrong?"

I threw his hands off of me, "Nothing's wrong. You've got the _real Speedy_ back. Why don't you three go and celebrate."

"Tommy, I-" G.A. said.

"No, I'm done," I hissed. "I'm going home."

Before he could say anything else, I stormed off.

* * *

 **AN:** TENSION IS RISING! Ah! I am so pleased with this chapter. And as always, thank you for reading.


	9. Chapter 9: Darkest

**AN:** This is a thing.

 **DISCLAIMERATIONER: WATCH THE SHOW**

* * *

 **|MOUNT JUSTICE**

 **|March 23, 20:38 EDT**

 _'We need to talk. IDK what's been going on with you l8ly but I want to help. Let's meet for lunch tomorrow?_

 _-O"_

I tossed the phone Dinah had given me into my locker with the rest of my civilian clothes and slammed it closed. I pulled up the hood of my suit and walked back up to the main floor of the Cave where I had set up the training dummy I had brought with me from the Arrow Cave.

Taking a breath, I slammed fist into the training dummy. I struck the wooden posts that served as arms, dodged as they spun, jump kicked them and then dodged again. White hot anger boiled inside of me as I struck the doll. With each vicious strike I pushed myself a little more, and with each strike the fire inside of me grew. I punched. I jabbed. I kicked. I kneed. I elbowed. Every hit making me think of someone else. I tried to force the images from my mind, but every time I saw another face. Oliver. Roy. Grant. Rose. Slade. Father. Each one made my rage grow stronger. As my fists struck the wood, I could hear Grant in my head. All of his comments as I trained.

 _"Sloppy!"_

 _"Too slow!"_

 _"Are you dancing or fighting?"_

 _"You'd be dead if this was a real fight!"_

The words were so ingrained in me that i couldnt tell if they were memories or my own thoughts. Finally, I lept into the air, spun around and kicked the head completely off the wooden post. The wooden carving skittered across the floor. I stood there for a moment, glaring at the broken dummy and dripping sweat, though not even out of breath.

Behind me I heard someone clapping slowly. I turned to see Nightwing walk up behind me. "Not bad," he commented.

I turned away. "I'm still too slow."

Nightwing frowned, "I thought you did very well."

"Shows what you know," I snapped.

His eyebrows came together. "Maybe you need a real opponent."

I locked gazes with him for a moment. "Fine."

He dropped into a ready position. I did the same. Suddenly the floor lit up. A hologram appeared next to him. "NIGHTWING VS SPEEDY," it read.

"Ready?" He asked.

My answer was charging him. I lept into the air and kicked his head. He caught my foot before I could make contact. Before I had even hit the ground, I followed up with a forward punch. Again he caught my attack before I could hit him. Still within his grip, I shoved my knee into his chest. He dropped me and stumbled back gasping for air. Before he had recovered, I aimed a roundhouse kick at his exposed side. Unfortunately, he regained his composure quickly and caught my leg again. This time, he held on tight and threw me to the ground before I could counter attack. The hologram board appeared above my face. "SPEEDY: FAIL."

"So what are you so upset about, Speedy?" He asked.

I got up and ran right in, wailing on him. He just held up his guard. He either blocked or deflected all of my punches, though I was pressing him back. That is, until he took a step into my stance and shoved his shoulder into my chest. I was knocked flat on my butt by the force of his whole body.

"Talk to me, Tommy," he pressed, "what's on your mind?"

"You talk too much," I complained. I punched him in the thigh before pinching him in the face.

"Is this about Roy Harper coming back?" He suggested. He hit me with a hard right cross to the shoulder.

I grit my teeth at him. "Shut up." I punched at his shoulder, but he just turned and grabbed my wrist. With a quick movement he pinned my arm behind my back and knocked me to the ground. Again, the holoboard appeared in front of me, "SPEEDY: FAIL."

"Why are you training here, Tommy?" He asked. "Shouldn't you be training with Oliver?"

I glared at him, "Why? I'm not his son. I'm barely his partner."

He got off of me and held out his hand to help me up, "Something happen between you two?"

I ignored his hand, threw myself to my feet and punched at him again. "Why do you care?"

He dodged and punched at my stomach. "For one, you're a member of my Team, and I can't have you distracted," he said. I defected his punch, but he anticipated my move and kneed me in the stomach instead. Twice. I growled to myself and struck at his chest. He caught my fist. "And for two, you're my friend, and I'm concerned about you."

"I don't have any friends," I hissed.

I went to punch him in the chin with all that I had. He saw it coming and used my momentum to throw me over his shoulder. I landed hard on the ground with a solid _THUD._ "SPEEDY: FAIL."

"You know that's not true," he insisted. "Whether you like it or not."

"Shut up," I barked.

I threw myself to my feet again. "Why should I want any friends? It didn't work out too well for me last time."

Stepping forward I jumped and slammed my knee into his shoulder. He rolled backward, kicking me in the gut as he did. The force of his kick sent me across the floor, but I refused to go down.

"You think we're going to betray you, like your old team? Is that it?" Nightwing asked.

I ran forward and punched him in the chest three times. "No," I muttered, uncertain even as I said it.

"You don't?" He pressed. He blocked a kick I aimed at his leg thenough spun me around.

"I don't know!" I shouted. I spun back around, dropping down and taking his legs out from under him. He landed on his hands and sprang backwards.

"Tommy, we're your friends, we're not going to turn against you," hex said, walking toward me. I punched at him, but again he caught my fist. This time, instead of countering, he just placed his hand on my shoulder. "You're safe here."

I shoved him away, "Listen, I know what your trying to do, but I don't need your pitty."

Nightwing sighed, "It's not pitty, Tommy. It's called trust."

I sneered. "Trust gets people killed. In the end, you can only rely on yourself."

His expression softened. "You know-"

 **"RECOGNIZED: BLUE BEETLE, B-22; IMPULSE, B-24,"** the computer cut him off.

Impulse came running out of the Zeta-tube with a young man in black and blue armor. "Ha ha, left them in the dust!" Impulse laughed, holding up what looked to be a large alien cell phone.

"Left who in the dust?" Nightwing asked, walking up to them. "And what is that?"

Impulse grinned. "Souvenir!" He proclaimed.

"Souvenirs are Best Boy's thing, Esse," Blue Beetle told him.

"Oh really? I thought it was Kid Flash-" Impulse said.

"Where'd you get it?" I asked, cutting him off.

Impulse frowned at me but Nightwing nodded, "Yes, please can we get to it?"

"Sorry," Blue apologized. "Aqualad attacked us along with Icicle Jr., the Terror Twins and three ninjas I didn't recognize."

"Ninjas?" I muttered. "What did they look like?"

"There was a woman, a man and a young girl about our age. They were all wearing orange and black suits," Blue explained. "And they had a lot of experience."

I frowned. Grant and Rose? It was possible, but who was this woman? I tried to tell myself that I was just thinking nonsense.

Impulse held up the device, "this is how they tracked Blue. I made sure they couldn't do it again."

"So you brought foreign, possibly alien, tech into the Cave?" Nightwing accused.

"Amateur," I sighed.

Nightwing sighed, "Alright, give it here." Taking the device from Impulse he began to inspect it.

"I don't like the look of that thing," I muttered anxiously.

"Let's see what we're dealing with here," Nightwing said. We all followed him over to the hologrid where he pulled up the holoboardand scanned the device. Images and information flashed on the screen. "Well, it's definitely alien." Nightwing announced.

"Way to go..." I grumbled.

Impulse cringed. "Don't belittle them, they're still new at this," Nightwing told me.

"For the record, I don't think it's a good idea to-" I was cut off as an alarm started to blare.

"Uh, I'm an idiot!" Nightwing said. He grabbed his escrima sticks off of his belt and turned around just in time to be slammed with Superboy's body, knocking him back.

We all turned to see a tall well built man with a white tank top and red suspenders holding up a pair lf black pants smkrking at us. I wasn't sure, but I thought he was Tommy Terror, a super strong criminal. Above us, a young man who appeared to me made of ice stood on the balcony to the third floor. He held out his hands and shot a blast at the ground freezing it solid. Blue Beetle sprouted wings and flew upwards while Impulse simply ran up the wall and tackled him. To my right, a woman, looking like pretty much the exact image of what the big lunk head that through Superboy's at Nightwing would look like as a girl, entered carrying Beast Boy on her shoulder. With the sight of her, I was basically all but sure that they were the Terror Twins. Impulse came running down from the balcony and tried to tackle her as well, but he only managed to bounce right off of her and prove my theory. He bounced straight into the grasp of Tommy Terror. Impulse tried to punch him at super speed, though it looked like it hurt him more than Tommy.

"Ah, my hands!" He complained, "What are you made of?"

"Snips and snails and puppy dog tails," Tommy smirked. He hooked something around Impulse's neck. I recognized it as a control collar, along with having three ability to deliver shocks directly to the nervous system, they had the added benefit of being able to he retrofitted to neutralize any super-powered individual. Basically meaning, Impulse's speed was gone. I move to go help him, but behind me I heard an all too familiar voice.

"Speedy," a distinctly feminine voice called out.

My whole body involuntarily clenched. I turned to see her. She looked exactly like the last time I saw her, only this time her mask was up. Even with it covering the upper half of her head, I could still picture her eyes as if she weren't wearing it. Instantly everything around me melted. I charged her. A small smirk showed on her lips, but it quicklyfaded away when my boot collided with her cheek.

She stumbled back and looked up at me a bit shocked. "Tommy..." she whispered, "It's me, Rose."

"I know," I snarled.

Letting out an unconscious war cry, I charged her. Ducking low below her guard, as I knew she'd block high, I grabbed her around the waist and picked her up. I ran all the way into the hall that lead to the kitchen before slamming her against the wall. She gasped as all of the air left her lungs. I squeezed her chest tightly, like a hug of rage, so that she couldn't breathe.

"Tommy!" She gasped.

I slammed her against the wall again. Her head rolled back and hard against the cement of the hallway. She wove hands together and brought them down on my head repeatedly. I refused to loosen my hold on her. After a moment, she thrust her knee into my gut. I dropped her and stumbled back as we both struggled to breathe.

"Tommy, I need to talk to you..." she said between gasps.

"Whatever it is," I snapped, "tell it to my father."

I roared in rage, leaping at her. She quickly fell back, caught my hands, placed her foot on my chest, and kicked me all of the way into the kitchen. I crashed into the oven with enough force to break the glass window. She came running in after me with her hand over her mouth.

"Oh, crap. Sorry, it was just a reflex," she told me. "Look, Tommy, I just want to explain some things to you-"

"Yeah, that's why you ambushed me," I spat. "Or why you tasered me and sent me off to be experimented on by aliens!"

I lunged forward her. I grabbed her by the front of her Kevlar vest and pulled her to me, striking my forehead hard against hers. While she was disoriented, I grabbed the back of her neck and pounded her head into the granite of the counter, cracking it.

When she pulled her head up her nose was crooked and dripping blood. I tried to shove her head into the counter again, but she twisted her body and pinned me against the counter.

"Listen-"

I cut her off by striking her side with my knee. She grabbed the water faucet, which came off with a hose attached to it, and banged it against my temple. She then proceeded to wrap the hose around my neck and pull it taught.

"Hey, jerk, I'm trying to explain, here!" She shouted.

I ripped the hose from around my neck and kicked her the abdomen, sending her stumbling back. She righted herself and stared me down. She gripped her brokename nose, and with a sickening _CRACK_ straightened it out.

"You're starting to pissed me off, Tommy," she growled.

"Starting?" I asked, "I always did."

Her mouth pressed firmly into a line. She reached up, causing me to flinch instinctively, but she just took off her mask. Her blue eyes were as beautiful as ever, though they held such intense emotion. "Tommy, I never-"

I interrupted her by punching her in her hard in her stomach. She recoiled and I placed my hands behind her head, pulling it down into my knee. As she was driven back, I grabbed a pan from where it hang on a rack. Using it like a warhammer, I swung it at her head. She was just barely able to get her guard up to block. She grunted in pain as it struck her arms. I quickly spun it over my head to attack again. Before I could, she drove her elbow right into my solar plexus, forcing me to drop the pan and fall to my knees. She pulled a knife from her belt and, grabbing me by my hood, placed it against my neck.

"I don't want to fight you," she took the knife and threw it away, "I was trying to save your life!" She insisted.

I punched her behind her knee, causing her to meet me face to face. With another roar, I shouldered her in the chest knocking her to the ground. Retrieving the knife she had discarded, I threw my leg over her and pushed the knife against her neck.

"Why should I listen to anything you say?" I demanded.

Quickly she reached up, and before I could react, she pulled my head down. It took me a moment to realize what was happening. The first thing I noticed was the feeling of something soft agaist my lips. I was so surprised that I couldn't move, couldn't pull away. Next was the taste. It was like nothing I had ever tasted before. There was no distinct taste other than flesh. My head rushed with blood. My mind went completely blank. I could feel my heart beating against my ribcage as if it were trying to play Mozart on a xylophone. I found myself feeling terrified, though I couldn't process why.

When she finally pulled away from me, there were tears in her eyes. She reached up, and with gentle hands, took off my mask to look into my eyes. "I'm so sorry, Tommy," she cried.

"Rose..." I muttered.

"Traitor!" Ravager's deep, demanding voice echoed across the kitchen. He stood in the doorway, his large frame looming over us as I held a knife to her throat. He pulled out a tonfa, giving it a showy twirl.

Instant I got up off of Rose and faced him. "Grant," I muttered confused.

"Your dad dies and you just go and join up with the enemy?" He bellowed in anger.

"Grant, I-" I stammered.

"And now, I find you with a knife to Rose's throat," he continued. He swing the tonfa over his head at me. I quickly blocked with the knife. "You were our family," he hissed. There was no mercy, no forgiveness in the darkness of his masked eyes.

"Grant-" I tried to defend myself.

"Traitors don't get to speak!" He shouted, swinging the tonfa around again to hit me in the side.

I blocked the attack with the knife against, but it had just been a distraction. He punched me square in the face. The hit was so hard that I was sent all the way to the ground. He swung the tonfa at me, but I rolled backward at the last moment.

"Traitors don't get to live," Ravager growled. Rose stepped in between us, and held out her arms defensively of me. "Move, Finch, I'm going to settle this business," Ravager ordered.

"We were ordered to take him alive, Grant," she told him.

I looked from where she stood with her back to me to Grant. So many thoughts went through my head. I was so confused. I didn't know what to do. I had no way of trusting Rose, but at the moment she was rhetorical only one in between Grant and me. I knew I couldnt take Grant in a fair fight even on my best day. And yet, I didn't know if I believed Rose. It was impossible to tell where her loyalties lied. I decided, not to decide.

I lept to my feet again and put the knife to her throat once more. "Drop the weapon," I insisted.

Grant scoffed, "You were always too high and mighty to kill, Crane. You don't have it in you to do it, let alone to your own family."

I tried to think quickly. "You and I both know my father ordered me not to kill. He's gone now."

Rose whispered, out of the corner of her mouth so Grant couldn't see, "Tommy?"

I hid my mouth behind her head and whispered back, "I want to trust you, but I don't know if I can. Either way, I'll need to get away from Grant."

Grant's body shifted a bit uneasily. "Still, you can't kill Rose."

"Can't I?" I asked, "Your father killed my father. Maybe I want a little revenge. Go on, Grant. Test me. Then you can explain to daddy how you failed, again."

Rose's body tensed up in my grip. She whispered to me, "Too much."

The warning came too late. Grant blew past Rose and tackled me to the floor. My head struck the linoleum and the world began to spin. The next thing I was aware of was a black rod smacking me across the face. Then my eyes rolled back and everything faded to black.

* * *

When I woke up, I was on the beach outside the Cave, my mask back on for some reason. When I tried to get up, I found that my hands were cuffed. My head was spinning but I was still able to make out Finch's masked face. I couldn't see her full expression through her mask, but when she looked at me, she frowned. I still wasn't sure if she was on my side or not. I still wasn't sure if I wanted her to be or not. She pulled me to my feet and I saw that Impulse, Beast Boy and Blue Beetle had also been captured, though Blue Beetle was the only other one conscious. We were all wearing control collars. Ravager, Icicle Jr, Finch, the Terror Twins ashe well as Blue Beetle's ninja woman, a dark haired woman wearing a suit similar to my old team's, were all there, along with a tall dark-skinned man in black armor with pale blond hair covering his scalp.

Instantly I charged him, shouting in anger. Before I had even made it half way, the ninja lady tackled me and held a sword to you throat. He barely even turned to look at me.

"Not a wise choice," he commented. He held up a small black cylinder that was in his hand. He was pressing down on a red button on the top of it. "You missed this part, but if my finger comes off of this switch, at all, Mount Justice goes boom."

I glared up at him, "You. You're Aqualad."

His eyebrows lowered. "I was."

"You killed Artemis," I spat. The ninja woman's gaze lingered on me a moment when I mentioned Artemis's name.

He turned away, "And?"

"As Green Arrow's new partner, I swear I'll pay you back for her," I threatened. In truth, I wasn't sure where I came from, but I felt like I needed to say it. More than that, I _wanted_ to say it. I wanted to make him pay.

He just kept walking toward the water where a submarine in the shape of a massive black manta ray was waiting. The ninja woman pulled me to my feet and gave me a shove.

"Move it, archer boy," she told me, "and no funny business."

Suddenly, Blue Beetle's hands transformed into massive maces and he knocked Icicle Jr to the ground before taking down the ninja woman.

I looked down at her with a smirk, "Like that?"

Blue Beetle's hand turned into a plasma cannon which he aimed at Aqualad.

"Blue, no!" I shouted.

Too late. Blue shot Aqualad, who tried to form a shield out of water to stop it. The blast was too much and it knocked Aqualad to the ground, the trigger flying out of his hand.

"No!" Blue and I shouted in unison.

We all looked to the mountain in anticipation, but nothing happened. No boom. No rumble. Not even one pebble was knocked out of place.

"A bluff?" I asked.

"Get him!" Blue shouted.

"No! Don't! " I warned.

He charged Aqualad, leaping into the air to attach him. Aqualad just held out his hand. A bright light glowed from Aqualad hand as it touched Blues chest and he shouted out in pain. When he stumbled away, a bit of his skin showed through the armor about the size of Aqualad's hand. Ninja woman pulled out a blow dart tube and shot him in his exposed chest. He instantly collapsed to the ground do.

"I was not certain that would work," Aqualad told the others, "but it seems Beetle is indeed vulnerable to mystic energy. And sedatives." He turned to face me. "Would you care to try your luck?" I glared daggers at him, but I didn't move. He looked away from me dismissively. "I thought not. Bring them all aboard."

We all were dragged onto the ship and tied up together in center of the bridge. Then, to my surprise, what I had taken for a submarine flew up into the sky as a plane. Impulse and Beast Boy started to wake up as we faced the mountain.

"Can't believe we didn't end Superboy when we had the chance," Tommy Terror snapped.

"Boss fish still has a soft spot for his old team," Icicle Jr accused.

"Do it," Aqualad ordered.

Ninja Girl pressed a second detonator. All at lnce, the entire mountain erupted like a super volcano. The fireball was massive, spraying rock and smoke soaring into the air. The shockwave was so powerful that it shook the ship even from two kilometers away.

Beast Boy gasped to my right. Impulse exclaimed in shock. I just watched in silence. I hadn't been on the Team long, but Mount Justice had been home to Garfield, M'gann as well as several others. Not to mention that Nightwing and Conner were still in there. Or, they may have been. I had no idea. I felt my chest tighten up at the sight of the column of smoke billowing into the sky.

"Aqualad," I said. He stared at me blankly. "I will make you bleed." I said each word individually.

If my words effected him, then he didn't show it. "Ravager, if you would."

"With pleasure," he said. He stood over me and glared down at me, his mask now gone so I could see his face, so filled with hate. I returned his look.

"And, Ravager, I will make you bleed too," I threatened.

His scowl deepened. "Shut up, traitor."

And with one punch, I was surrounded by darkness again.

* * *

 **AN:** I'm sorry for any extra errors in the past couple chapters, I've been restricted to mobile and it's incredibly difficult to catch them all without a large screen to read from. And as always, thank you for reading.


	10. Chapter 10: Before the Dawn

**AN: So, I've gotten some complaints about Tommy being a wuss in this reboot all I have to say about that is...**

 **DISCLAIMER: The show is great. Watch it.**

* * *

Sunlight streamed into wherever I was through some shroud. When my eyes fluttered open, I was back at Dinah's apartment. I sat up from the floor, my plain white blanket falling off of my chest. I could hear someone in the kitchen moving things around. I stood up and walked over to see who it was. I was greeted by Dinah's smiling face. She game me a warm smile as she stirred a bowl of something. Though something was off about her.

"Dinah?" I asked, "What's-?"

I stopped when I noticed that she was stirring an empty bowl. When I looked into her eyes, they were lifeless. She opened her mouth to speak, but when she did, only a series of loud clicks and clacks came out of her mouth.

* * *

I jolted forward, smacking my head on the red glass that was in front of my face. My head rang, partially from the hit, partially carryover from Grant's right cross. My vision was blurred so badly that I couldn't make out anything but red for a moment. I rubbed my masked eyes to clear away some of the haze so that I could assess my surroundings. As my vision slowly started to return, I saw that I was in some kind of pod. For some reason, my Speedy suit was still on me, sans my belt and quiver. Just beyond the glass was a circular red room with a large pillar in the center. There seemed to be pods connected to the red metal walls side by side, with the only break being for a circular door. In the other pods around me I saw several people. There was an African-American boy, a Native American boy, an Asian girl, a Latino boy, a causation woman with a swath of red hair, and a man that looked to be half fish. They were all unconscious, my pod must've malfunctioned or something. I recognized the red-haired woman from my days working with the Light as Selinda "Shimmer" Flinders, a member of the Cult of Kobra, an ally of the Light. I had no idea what she was doing here. I could only assume the fish-man was Lagoon Boy. There were several metal probes that were zapping Lagoon Boy with electric shocks. On the column in the center of the room was a computer console where an alien was looking at some readings. She looked normal enough, despite the leathery green exoskeleton. It still had two arms, two legs and a head. It was even wearing some kind of red outfit. It actually looked a bit like a woman in it's shape. I was actually kind of underwhelmed.

I started to think up a way out of there. If I started banging on the pod, I'd draw too much attention and probably just end up hurting myself more than the pod. I didn't likely have a chance at convincing them that I wanted to rejoin the Light. They'd never believe me. Even they did, there was no guarantee that that would be a ticket out of here. Shimmer was proof of that. True, she may have also betrayed the Light; I was gone for nearly over a month. It was too big of a gamble for me to take. Beyond that, I knew nothing about these aliens. They may not care what the Light wants. One thing I knew was that I definitely couldn't wait for Oliver, Dinah or Nightwing and his Team to come and get me. They all had probably already written me off. Heck, I hadn't even been on any official missions. I was barely a son to Dinah, I was hardly Speedy, and I sure was nothing resembling a member of their Team. I was more of a burden to them than anything, and they all must've been relieve to be rid of me by then. No, I couldn't rely on anyone else to get me out. I had to get out myself.

The door opened and another of the aliens walked in, this one looking a bit more like a man and wearing blue, along with Aqualad. What really surprised me was the fact that it spoke, and in English.

"Kaldur'ahm this is the scientist in charge of all Meta-Gene research," the alien in blue spoke.

"I understand you are responsible for providing several our out test subjects. Gratitude," the alien in red said, confirming my hypothesis that she was female... I think. Aqualad nodded his reply then walked over to inspect the pods. I quickly let my head roll forward and played dead. "I assume it would interest you to know that in this lab we are attempting to isolate the Meta-Gene by stimulating potentially dormant powers in average humans."

Aqualad stopped in front of Lagoon Boy, right next to my pod. I could feel my breath catch. "But La'gaan already has powers," Aqualad pointed out, "He is Atlantian, hardly an average human."

"Ah, but his powers are based on training and sorcery," the alien scientist remarked, moving closer. "Beyond that he is an average Atlantian, is he not?" She frowned when she looked at my pod.

She stepped closer and looked directly at me. She pressed a button on the front of my pod and a pair of arms came out of the sides of my pod on the inside, just like Lagoon Boy's. I did my best to remain still, but I couldn't stop the anxiety from twisting my stomach into knots. The arms each produced four prongs and stabbed into my shoulders. Twenty volts surged through me whole body, forcing every one of my muscles to tense up. My head reared back and I let out an involuntary roar of pain through clenched teeth. I could taste metal and blood.

"Why are you using such a high voltage on Speedy as opposed to La'gaan?" Aqualad asked.

"This specimen had been altered pre-birth to resist outward trauma and advance his physical attributes. Otherwise, much like La'gaan he is an ordinary human. However because of his special alterations, we must increase the tests accordingly," the scientist alien told him.

"My, he sure is a screecher," the blue alien commented.

"Yes, keeping him conscious is another of the ways we have increased the potency of his tests," the scientist added. "His outbursts are just one of the side effects I'm afraid."

"Could you at least silence the pod?" the blue alien asked.

The scientist smiled, "I could..."

"Huh, well, let's just continue on our way then. Leave the subjects to their tests," the blue alien insisted.

"Of course, Ambassador," the scientist agreed.

Then they all left the room. At least, that's what I think happened. I couldn't really tell because through it all I was screaming in agony.

* * *

I didn't remember blacking out, but I remember the next dream I had. Well, I wasn't sure if it was a dream or a memory. What happened was so realistic, and yet highly improbable. I was a young boy again. It was long before I had ever gone on a mission for the Nest. I had just finished a day of training with Grant and Rose under Slade. My arms were bruised and bleeding from training with wooden swords. I laid down on the ground inside a small tent that held my father and I. In reality, it was much too small for anyone, let alone a man and his son. There was a small gas lamp in the corner with a pitiful flickering flame that danced in the bit of breeze that fluttered through the flaps of the opening as it pathetically tried to keep it out. I watched it sway gracefully as I nursed my aching arms. I had just as many bruises from Slade's punishments for failure as bruises from actual duels. Likely more. I was the worst with any close range fight scenario compared to Rose and Grant. Because of this, I always got severely punished.

My father watched me with his usual cold eyes. This must've been before I had realized that it was abnormal for him to be so cold to me. The only thing colder than his eyes was the weather. We were somewhere high north, so far north that I could feel the freezing wind in my bones, and the thin sleeping bag that I had did little to protect me. I didn't complain, I knew that would only result in a scolding. My father wore a large parka on top of sitting next to a heater to help shield himself from the cold.

Then, something that I had never expected would happen in a million years, happened. My father, silently, stood up, walked over to me, wrapped his thick coat around me and went back to his seat. When I looked up to see why he would do such a thing, he was turned away from me, scribbling some notes on a small pad of paper. Knowing he would ignore any questions, I rolled over to try and sleep again, extremely confused by his actions. The heavy coat was more than enough to shelter me from the harsh cold.

* * *

Suddenly I snapped forward, once more hitting my head on the glass. This time my head was already buzzing too much for me to feel it. Every cell in my body was screaming. My throat felt like I had been swallowing wood chips. Cold sweat soaked my suit, plastering it to my skin. I breathed in the air like it was my life force, making my throat burn. My pod split in the center, opening up and freeing me. I fell forward out of the pod and into the arms of someone I couldn't see. The world was a haze to me, that I was too numb to care about.

"Oh, god, Tommy," a familiar female voice gasped, "what did they do to you?"

 _"R-Rose?"_ I murmured hoarsely. My voice failed me.

"Don't worry, Tommy," she told me, "I'm getting you out of here."

I was too weak to fight back as she pulled one of my arms over her shoulder and took my weight. Slowly she lead me to the door.

 _"W-wait-"_ I stammered, " _we ha-ave to help the-e-"_

"I don't have time to get everyone out," Rose insisted. "Besides, you're all that matters."

I didn't have the strength in me to stop her from dragging me out of the room before we had abandoned everyone else. Two months prior, I wouldn't have thought twice about them, but now I felt some obligation to help them. And I felt like a failure for not.

 _"Ho-ow di-"_ I struggled.

"I came in with the new shipment of test subjects," Rose explained, "Grant and I were assigned to help with guard detail. As soon as we got back, I ditched the others and found you."

I frowned up at her, her image slowly coming more into focus. I couldn't understand why she would ever help me. _"Why?"_

Her jaw clenched. "Shut up and move your feet."

She dragged me through whatever building we were in. It all looked extremely alien, and extremely uniform. Every hallway looked the same. The only trouble we encountered were a couple guards every here and there, but each time we did, Rose was able to hide us both before we were seen. I couldn't tell how, but she seemed to know exactly where she was going. I desperately wanted to question her, but the more I tried to talk, the worse my throat reacted. It was like I had ate a pinecone or something. Luckily, my strength was slowly returning to me. Before long I was walking on my own again.

We had made it through about five separate hallways when the alarm sounded. It came in the form of a loud blaring siren that echoed across the halls.

"No. No. No!" Rose hissed. "I shouldn't have set off any alarms! I did it just how they did!"

 _"N-ot- u-u-us?"_ I offered.

She bit her lower lip nervously. Placing a finger to her ear, she called through her comm-link, "Ravager, what's going on?" After a moment, she added, "I think I see someone, I'll pursue." Turning to me, she said, "Looks like your friends came to get you, they broke out all of the prisoners. They might be a way to get you out of here, but we have to find them, and fast. Grant thinks that I'm chasing you right now."

 _"Fr-i-e-n-d-s?"_ I sputtered.

"Your new Team?" She told me.

My eyes went wide. I was certain that this was another dream at this point. None of this was possible. I was never so lucky. No one ever cared for me enough to actually risk their life for me. No. It must've been a mistake. Or, they were here for Lagoon Boy. That must've been it. And weren't Beast Boy, Blue Beetle and Impulse all captured as well? They were probably just trying to get them all back. If anything I was an afterthought. They absolutely wouldn't wait for me.

"Rose!" Ravager's voice boomed down the hall at us.

"Crap," she swore.

"What's going on?" He called, "What are you doing?"

She turned to face him, he was at the other end of the hall in full combat gear. "I'm taking Tommy back to his pod."

"The laboratories are the other way," Ravager informed her.

I could sense Rose's nerves set on edge. "Oh? I forgot. This place all looks the same."

Ravager's voice took on a dangerous tone. "Rose, you have an photographic memory."

Rose sighed, "Screw this." She stood defiantly in between Ravager and me. "I'm getting Tommy out of here."

"What?" Ravager demanded.

"Tommy is our family. I can't leave him here to be tortured," she proclaimed.

"He's a traitor!" Ravager said.

"I don't care. He's family, and you know that," Rose accused.

"Did you have anything to do with the _Traitor's_ new team finding our location?" Ravager asked.

She shook her head, "I don't care about the Light or the Justice League. For all I care they're both stuck up and self righteous. I have no reason to help either of them."

Ravager stormed up to look at her face to face. "Are you really willing to betray your own brother for _him?_ "

She matched his hard gaze. "Yes."

Ravager glared from her, to me and back. I noticed that he had a hand on his knife's handle the entire time the were "talking."

"Speedy!" a voice called from down the hall.

I looked up to see Beast Boy and Miss Martian. Miss Martian looked how I felt. She just kind of floated in place like a dazed boxer. Beast Boy charged forward. Halfway to us, he transformed into a rhinoceros. He charged at Ravager and Rose full force. Rose flipped backwards, spring-boarding off of of his back. Ravager simply jumped out of the way. Beast Boy skid to a stop next to him and changed into a large gorilla. He grabbed Ravager by the arm and threw him into the wall. Then he transformed back into a half-monkey-kid and ran over to me.

"Speedy, are you OK?" He asked.

Unable to really talk, I just gave him a thumbs up. He smiled at me. "I hope you're just as good without the bow."

I glared at him and stood up straight. Rose walked over to us and Beast Boy turned into a green Bengal tiger. He roared at her aggressively. She responded by pulling out a pair of bladed tonfas. I stepped in between them and held out my hands.

 _"No..."_ I croaked.

Beast Boy transformed back and gawked at me. "What? She's the enemy!"

"I set him free," Rose informed him.

"What?" He asked. He looked to me in confusion. I just nodded. "You trust her?"

I locked eyes with Rose. _"Yeah..."_

"What happened to your voice?" BB asked.

Just then, the hallway was immediately swarming with alien guards. They poured out of every hall around us. At the same time, Ravager pulled himself up from where he had fallen after failing to become a wall mounted painting. I looked at Rose and BB. I pointed at Ravager then myself. They both seemed to get the idea.

"You sure?" Rose asked hesitantly.

As an answer, I reached into her belt and took her retractable metal baton. I snarled and charged at Ravager. With a flick of my wrist the baton extended fully. He was taken off guard by my sudden attack. The alien guards behind him reacted faster than he did. They all charged to meet me. There were seven of them in between me and Ravager. The first one to meet me didn't even get a chance to attack. My baton shattered his helmet, knocking him out cold before he could even cry out in pain. The second tried to stab me with a spear made from the same red metal as everything in the ship. I caught it just beyond the claw-shaped blade and with one swing of my baton, broke it in half. Jamming my elbow into his chest, I sent him flying into another guard who instantly collapsed. The fourth guard to reach me aimed his spear at me. A laser shot out from the center of the claw-shaped tip aimed at my chest. Leaping into the air, I spun and drove all of my momentum through my boot into his face, sending him to the ground. The fifth, I ambushed immediately. Before he could respond, I stepped into his guard and smacked him across his wrists, forcing him to drop his spear. Catching it, I hooked it behind his legs to trip him. Swinging it over my head, I plunged the butt of the spear into his gut and drove him into the ground. As the next two reached me, they both aimed their spears to shoot more lasers at me. I spun the spear over my head and knocked away the first guard's spear so that he shot the other guard. Then, I struck my baton across his head, knocking him back. He stumbled back a few steps just for me to kick him in the chest. He fell to the ground hard and I cracked the butt of the spear into his helmet. Rolling right off of him, I hurled the spear at Ravager, now the only one standing directly in front of me. With just the slightest movement, he twisted his head and the spear soared right past him.

"You finally going to take me on?" he asked.

I growled deep in my throat, _"You sta-arted this."_

"What's the matter, traitor? Cat got your tongue?" He pulled out his knife and readied himself for the fight.

Stepping up, I swung my baton over my head at him. He dodged to the side, but I dropped down low and swept his leg out. He just rolled back and kicked me in the face. My teeth cut into my lip and I tasted blood. Leaping up, I cracked the baton across his shoulder. He stumbled back a few feet. I quickly followed up with a second strike to his hip. This one, he blocked with his knife. With a hard counter, he sent me sprawling. He stabbed down at me with his knife, but I lifted up my leg and stopped his wrist with my foot. He tossed the knife into the air and caught it with his other hand. He tried to stab it down at me again, but I caught his wrist. Looping one leg around his neck and the other around his torso so that his arm was between my legs, I arched my back as much as I could. With a loud _POP_ his shoulder came out of his socket. A loud shout of pain escaped his mouth. Taking another knife from his belt with his free hand, he stabbed me in my foot. I let out a grunt as I rolled away from him. We both stood up facing each other with caution. A scowl on my face, I pulled the knife from my foot and threw it away.

"Those _heroes_ have trained you well..." he grumbled. reaching behind him, he pulled out a baton of his own. "But you're still just a little brat."

Dashing forward, he swung the baton over his head at me. I blocked it with my own and jabbed the tip of my baton into his dislocated shoulder. He stifled a shout, poorly, and kneed me in the chest. The hit was strong enough to knock out all of the air in my lungs. He followed up with a swift elbow to the back of my head. I steadied myself before I fell. Gritting my teeth, I hooked my baton around his neck. While pulling his head down, I thrust mine upwards into his face. He didn't hesitate for a second. He bashed me across the skull with his baton, sending me reeling. I tried to attack his injured shoulder again, press my advantage, but he twisted his body and blocked with his baton. Jumping into the air, he spun and kicked at my head with both feet. I rocked back on my heels, craning my back so that I just avoided kissing his boots. When he landed he shoved the handle of his baton into my stomach. He pressed a button and a blade shot out of the other end of his baton, turning it into more of a short spear. He flipped it around and stabbed it into my side. There was too much adrenaline in me to truly register pain. It was more of an annoying pressure in my side. I took hold of his wrist and using his weight against him, threw him over my shoulder into the wall. He slammed hard into the metal wall. The sound reverberated throughout the entire hall. It didn't take him nearly as much time to recover as I would've liked. Within seconds he ran full throttle at me. On his way, he picked up one of the guard's spears and hurled it at me. I pulled the bladed baton out of my side and ducked under the spear. He smashed into me with his good shoulder and started shoving me back. Reaching up, I brought my baton down on his bad shoulder so hard that the pain sent him to his knees. Holding the bladed baton to his throat, I pulled off his mask. His nose was broken.

He spat blood and smirked at me through bloodied teeth. "You gonna kill me, Crane? You gonna kill your big brother, Grant? Your daddy always thought you were different from us killing machines. So go on, prove him wrong. Traitor."

A growl grew deep in my chest.

"Speedy!" Beast Boy's voice called to me. When I looked up, he and Rose were getting overrun by two dozen guards. Rose was backed against a wall with no weapons left except for a single pair of brass knuckles. Beast Boy was busy guarding Miss Martian, who was seriously struggling. More so than she should've been, I thought.

I hesitated for a moment. That was all of the time Grant needed. He grabbed the bladed baton, shoved me against the wall and shoved the blade up against my throat as he pinned me to the wall. "How do you like that? Your new friends suck. I guess it only makes sense. After all, they accepted a traitor into their midst."

 _"Not a trai-tor,"_ I stammered.

"Not a traitor? You abandoned us and joined the enemy!" He shouted. "But now, you'll watch as the Reach soldiers kill your friends. And as for Rose, well, you know personally how upset father can get."

Images of Slade's cruel punishments flashed through my mind. Rose's stern face looked at up at me, hiding all of the fear that I knew she was feeling. I knew she was terrified, but not of the dozens of guards around her. Whips and beatings were for failure. Betrayal? That would be straight up torture. Slade wouldn't care that she was his daughter. I couldn't bear the thought of her going through that.

 _"No..."_ I hissed through my burning throat.

"What was that?" Grant asked, "No? Well then you shouldn't have corrupted her." He hissed with rage.

 _"No...!"_ I could feel some kind of pressure building in my chest.

Grant leaned in close and hissed into my ear, "You betrayed us, Tommy. You betrayed _me!_ This is your fault."

I could picture Rose's face as she watched her own father torture her. I fought back tears as I watched her try and fight off the guards. Everything that had happened in recent months came flooding through me. Rose. Grant. Slade. My father. Dinah. Oliver. Roy. White hot anger burned deep in my gut. It all built upon each other. It all built and built like a massive bubble. I felt so useless to help. I couldn't help my father. I couldn't help save Mount Justice. And I couldn't do anything then to help her. Her, Beast Boy, Miss Martian. They had all risked everything to save me, now, I was going to watch them all...

 _"Noo_ ooooOOOO **OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

Halfway through my shout of rage my voice changed. My scream dropped four octaves, and increased in volume by about twelve hundred percent.

Everyone in the hallway was instantly crippled. All of the guards, or "Reach soldiers" as Grant called them, Rose, Beast Boy, Miss Martian and Grant all grabbed the sides of their heads, and collapsed to the ground in pain. Beyond that, any of the Reach soldiers that were directly in front of me all got launched forwards so hard that they crashed into the wall, and then _through_ the wall. The force of my shout actually propelled them through a solid metal wall. The main issue was, my shout was actually hurting Rose, BB and Miss M as much as the Reach soldiers. Also, I couldn't stop.

 **"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

I just kept screaming. I screamed until my throat felt like it was going to burst. It took me running out of air to actually stop. When I did, I doubled over into a coughing fit. At first I was terrified that the second I took another breath I would start up again, but a few cursory breaths, and words to myself, showed me that I was fine for the time being. Though, I didn't have the time to just stand there and recover. I ran, still coughing, over to where Rose had fallen against the wall. She was curled into a fettle position with her hands clamped firmly on either side of her head.

Tenderly, I brushed my hands over hers. She reacted violently, lashing out against my touch, but she stopped when she saw that it was me.

"Tommy?" She shouted. She seemed to be extremely dazed.

I winced at her sudden outburst.

"Come on, we need to move!" I instructed, my voice still hoarse, but usable.

"What?" She shouted in confusion.

"I said we have to go!" I repeated.

"I can't hear you!" She shouted, panic starting to slip into her voice. "Oh god, I can't hear!"

I placed my hands on either side of her face and forced her her to look at me. "Focus. You're alright. We need to go. Now."

I was unsure if she had begun to get her hearing back or if she just read my lips, but she nodded all the same. We roused BB and Miss Martian. both of whom seemed to recover alright. I guess Martian blood beats my father's serum for healing.

"Come on," Beast Boy said, "I can smell the others, they're this way!"

"You can smell them?" I asked.

"Don't ask," BB said.

"Uh, OK..." I relented. This wasn't the time.

"Since when can you scream like that?" BB asked.

"Now, apparently," I said, following him as we all ran through the ship.

"What?" Rose shouted.

"Nothing," I told her.

I began to seriously worry that Rose's hearing would ever come back. I was honestly struggling with not panicking over whether or not I had deafened her. Ahead of us, a small group of Reach soldiers ran out from a corridor. BB transformed into a gorilla took them all out without even breaking stride. Miss Martian didn't even react.

"Are you OK, Miss Martian?" I asked. "You seem distracted."

Her vacant stare didn't shift at all from a blank expression. Gorilla BB just frowned at me. As if I didn't have enough to be concerned about.

We got to a large circular door shaped like a beetle.

Gorilla BB glared over at Miss M. Suddenly I could hear his voice in my head, _"Can't you at least get the link back up?"_ He paused for a moment. _"Oh, uh, thanks. Now come on! We're sealed out of the docking bay."_ Looking towards the door he asked, _"What's going on in there?"_

Nightwing's voice answered in my head, _"Don't know. I'm cut off aboard the Bio-Ship."_

 _"We're fighting Black Beetle and Shimmer. Lagoon Boy, Robin and Bumble Bee are already down and- Conner, look out!"_ Wonder Girl's voice chimed in. _"Superboy's down. It's just Batgirl and me now."_

"Wonder Girl!" I shouted with concern.

"Wonder Girl?" Rose asked.

"You can hear?" I pointed out, astounded.

"Now," she stated. "Who's Wonder Girl?"

BB ignored us and turned to Miss Martian. _"You've got to get int there!"_

 _"What? H-How?"_ Miss Martian asked, dazed.

 _"What do you mean 'how?'"_ BB demanded. _"Density shift!"_

 _"Ri-Right,"_ Miss Martian said, seeming to come to grips a bit. _"I can still do that."_

She walked up to the door and stuck her upper body through it like it wasn't even there, but then the whole door glowed and she went completely limp.

"What happened?" I asked.

Suddenly something started pounding on the door from the inside, almost like it was trying to get out. My adrenaline was starting to wear low and I was starting to feel panic creep into my heart.

"I don't like this..." I muttered.

"Speedy, Beast Boy," A voice called from behind us.

We turned to see Blue Beetle and Impulse walk up behind us. Impulse pointed at Rose, "What's she doing with you?"

"No time to explain," I said, "she's with us. Right now, we need to get in there!"

"I think I can help," Blue said.

"How could-" I was cut off as he put his hand on the side of the door.

The door glowed again and opened up, allowing Miss Martian to fall unconscious to the floor, to reveal a large circular room. In the center stood a tall broad alien in a suit identical to Blue's, only black. The room was filled with the unconscious members of the Team. Wonder Girl was laying passed out just at my feet.

I dropped to the ground beside her and cradled her head. "Cassie!"

She stirred slightly at my touch, but seemed to be out cold. Already bruises were forming all over her shoulders and arms. Seeing her like that, I felt something in me burn.

"Hey everyone who wants to hear tomorrow," I shouted, getting the attention of everyone who was still conscious, "cover your ears."

"Not again!" Rose gasped.

This time, I tried to focus it. I tried to aim it. With a quick glance to make sure none of my friends were behind him, I glared at Black Beetle, and let loose.

 **"HRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

This time, my scream was far more condensed, and far more devastating. Everyone still conscious in the room save for me and Black Beetle covered their ears and turned away. Black Beetle seemed to actually have trouble moving against the shear force of the sound waves. The ground began to shake as if a massive tremor had struck us. The very walls around us creaked and cracked as my shout reverberated against them. Little spouts of water began to pour into the ship through in between the cracks that formed. Black Beetle's armor began to slowly peel itself from his green exoskeleton in large chunks.

Despite all of this, he still slowly made his way towards me. I tried to shout even louder, causing even more of the surrounding metal of the fortress to fracture and burst. Black Beetle just kept walking towards me. Slowly but surely. His hand transformed into a long blade. Just as I ran out of breath, he stood just over me, a smirk on his lips.

"Not bad," he mocked as his armor knit itself back together, "all in all, I'd say that was the best attack you meat have thrown at me so far, but it wasn't enough."

He raised his hand-scythe above his head and brought it down to slice me in half. And he would've too, if Blue hadn't blocked it with a matching blade. He blocked Black's attack and pulled me back in an instant.

"Little brother, one way or another, I am getting you back on mode," Black Beetle promised. "You are of the Reach, and cannot escape it."

"I have to," Blue muttered.

He tensed up for a moment, then ran in to clash with Black.

At this point, my adrenaline levels had plummeted. I could feel my body loosing strength by the second. Rose ran over to me to steady me before I fell.

"Whoa there cowboy," she said, "You've got to stay awake."

"Uh," I hissed. "I'm doing my-"

I could feel a dull gnawing pain coming from my side. I touched it just for a spike of white agony to shoot all up my left side. All at once I could feel the pain from my fight with Grant as well as from the pod. It all hit me like a truck. I struggled to stay vertical.

"Hey," Rose hooked an arm around me and took my weight, "You've lost a lot of blood, idiot, you can't pass out now."

"Who're you calling idiot?" I grumbled.

A red haired girl in a jogging uniform with a utility belt hooked around her shoulder ran over to us.

"Who are you?" She asked Rose.

"Who are you?" Rose asked her.

"She's a friend," I muttered as I struggled not to black out.

The red haired girl seemed to struggle for a moment. "Just get on the ship. We'll deal with this later."

With that, she ran over to help the other Team members. Not seeing a reason to argue, Rose dragged me onto the ship where the others were quickly filing in. Nightwing gave Rose a second glance from the driver's seat, but didn't seem to have the time to argue as Rose pulled me into a corner and began cutting away my suit to treat the gaping stab wound in the side of my body. While she worked, the rest of the world began to melt away from us.

"Hey, I made this suit myself," I complained.

"Yeah, I can tell," Rose snorted, "It's lousy with red."

"Well I am Speedy," I pointed out.

She smirked at me as she applied sterilized my wound, making me hiss in pain. "Oh yes, the big hero."

I smiled at her, "Looks like you're a hero now, too."

She frowned at my comment, "I don't think it's going to be that easy."

"Ah, it'll be fine," I waved off her comment, getting a bit whoosy from blood loss, "just find a long lost hero relative."

She grinned, "Yeah, about that..."

"Don't tell me you have one?" I questioned.

"No, but apparently you do," she laughed.

I shrugged, "I got connections... apparently."

She finished dressing my wound and sat against the wall of the Bio-Ship next to me. She leaned her head against my shoulder and I put mine on hers, not really caring who stared at us. Not caring about the questions we would raise. All I cared about was having Rose safe and with me.

"Do you think Grant will be OK?" She asked.

I couldn't even respond. I had no idea what was going on with her, let alone with him. I still couldn't tell if he really wanted to kill me or not.

"Grant and I have never been on the same page..." I muttered.

"Yeah, well now you're in two separate books!" She snorted humorlessly.

I chuckled. "I guess so."

Her laugh died in her throat. "Just... tell me it's all going to be OK?" She asked.

I took her hand in mine and kissed her bloodied knuckles. "I hope so." Was all I could manage. "I really hope so..."

* * *

 **AN:** Did that help? If you're not happy yet, then just wait, I still have big plans for this story. And as always, thank you for reading.


	11. Chapter 11: Cornered

**AN:** Once more around the bend.

 **DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN DC'S STUFF!**

* * *

 **|S.T.A.R. LABORATORIES  
|April 1, 17:23 MDT**

The sound of rapid tapping filled the hallway. Impulse tapped his hands onto his lap next to me, with a door separating us. Next to him was Blue Beetle and then Lagoon Boy. On my other side was Beast Boy. Across the hallway from us were the other kids from the Reach's ship, accept for the Native American boy who was through the door next to me, along with a bald boy in a white jumpsuit that I didn't know. We all sat on chairs placed outside an office at S.T.A.R. labs. Dinah was "counseling" everyone after our "traumatizing experience." Everyone glared at Impulse as he continued tapping on his lap at high speeds. Blue Beetle tried to stop him politely with a hand on his. It worked for a moment as Impulse apologized and did stop, but after not even a full second, he began tapping his foot.

The door opened and the Native American boy stepped out with Dinah right behind him. "Thank you Tye," she said. Looking over to the African American boy, she called, "Virgil?" The two boys swapped places. Just before the door closed behind Virgil and Dinah, I spotted Dinah giving me a sideways glance.

Blue Beetle randomly shot to his feet and shouted, "Ti-ime to stretch!" Out of nowhere, he started stretching out his back randomly. "Yep, gotta keep limber." Then, just as abruptly, he sat down.

I ignored him and glared at the door, twirling a pencil in my hands. Despite everything that had happened, between getting captured, rescued and developing weird superpowers, my thoughts were elsewhere. I wasn't even really concerned about whatever lecture or whatever was waiting for me beyond the door next to me. All I could think of at the moment was what Rose was dealing with over at the Hall of Justice. I guess that the basement of the Hall was now the go-to place when it came to interrogations. My main concern wasn't really about what Nightwing and Miss Martian had planned for her, it was more about whether or not she would cooperate. If she did then it would likely go smoothly. If she didn't... things would get complicated very quickly. On top of it all, I wasn't sure of her allegiances or plans myself. That was something that I was definitely going to find out.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Beast Boy staring at me. I realized that while lost in thought I didn't know how long he had been watching me. I tried to ignore him but it eventually got under my skin. I turned towards him and roared, "What?!"

He jumped in surprise at my reaction, as did everyone else. Until then, I hadn't realized that everyone was staring at me.

"So, um, you, like..." Beast Boy started, seeming to be at a loss for words.

"You can do the cry now?" Lagoon Boy asked.

I frowned at him. "'The cry?'" I asked.

"You know," Beast Boy begged, "the 'Canary Cry!'"

Ty snorted, "Cry? I'd say it was more of a screech."

"Look, I don't know what it is!" I griped. Everyone seemed to flinch a little every time my mouth opened. Letting out a sigh, I stood up and threw the pencil away angrily.

The door opened up and Virgil stepped out. Dinah turned to one of the other run aways. Before she could say anything, I stepped up to face her.

"Let's get this over with," I insisted.

Her lip curled downward in a pout. "Speedy, I-"

I stormed into the office. "I just want this to be over."

Since no one seemed to object, or really care, Dinah entered behind me and closed the door. Inside was a desk with two chairs on either side of it. On the desk was a computer and a lamp. Against the wall behind the desk was a filing cabinet and behind the guest's chair there was a couch set against the wall. It was a very standard office. Behind the desk there was a video camera set up on a tripod.

As soon as Dinah closed the door, she turned and grabbed me by the shoulders. I had to actively restrain myself from breaking her arm on instinct alone. She pulled me in close and clutched my head against her chest. Not knowing how to respond, I just stood there as she held in me in her solid grip for a few moments. I could hear her heart beat rapidly through her chest. The sound of it made something in my own hurt. Without really meaning to, I reached up and wrapped my arms around her tightly. I didn't realize it until then, but I had been mad at her. I was mad that she hadn't come for me. I was mad that she hadn't said anything to me when we first saw each other when she and a few other Leaguers told us we were to be interviewed. I was mad that she seemed to be putting off talking to me. Despite it all, I couldn't stop my breath from catching in my throat a bit as we hugged. I'm not sure how long we just hugged each other, but when she finally pulled away, though still holding me close, she had tears in her reddened eyes.

"I'm sorry," she laughed humorlessly, "I've just been trying really hard not to do that for too long." She tilted my head down and gently kissed my forehead. "I was so afraid that I'd lost you again."

My grip around her waist tightened. "I'm OK."

She placed her chin on top of my head and sighed, causing her whole body to shake. When she spoke she was on the verge of sobbing. "I was trying so hard to not show favoritism or give away that we're related, but it was getting hard. Every time I stepped out into that hallway and saw you sitting there, I wanted to pull you to me so badly." As she spoke, I could feel my eyes burn.

"It's OK," I muttered, "I understand."

She kissed the top of my head again before finally pulling away. She held me at arm's-length, holding my face in her hands. Delicately, she removed my mask and smiled. A single tear rolled down her cheek. I reached up and wiped it away. At my touch, she pulled away and wiped her face, "Oh, god. I'm such a mess!"

I chuckled, "We probably should've saved this for last, huh?"

She chuckled at me, "I was trying to!"

"Sorry," I winced.

She smiled, "It's OK, I was just about to cave anyway."

Then, taking a deep breath, she wiped her eyes and said, "OK, we've got a job to do."

Dinah took her seat behind the desk and motioned for me to sit opposite her. As I did, she turned on the camera.

"Is that necessary?" I asked, replacing my mask. "Being recorded makes me itchy."

She frowned, "I'm sorry, Tommy, but I need the recordings."

"Alright," I relented. "So... ask your questions."

She smiled at me. "The idea is for us to just talk normally. It's not really supposed to be an interrogation."

I puffed out my cheeks, "Normal? Not really my forte."

"Not mine either," she laughed. "Why don't we start with Rose?"

I flinched a bit at her name. "What's going to happen to her?"

Dinah frowned. "We're not sure yet. That's mostly up to her." I looked away from her. "Why don't you tell me what happened between you two?"

"You already know everything," I pointed out.

"Not what took place since the Cave was attacked," she corrected.

I took a deep breath. Rose's face passed through my head. My heart's pace quickened just a bit at the thought of her. I was still unsure of what to tell Dinah about Rose, or more accurately, what not to tell her. Her crystal blue eyes fixated on me, locking me into the chair, which was suddenly much lest comfortable than it had been a moment ago. After a moment of uncertainty, I figured that there was no point in hiding everything. I told her everything that happened, leaving out the part where Rose had kissed me in the Cave; I still had no idea what that had been. Dinah remained stoic for the majority of the story, only reacting when I told her of how I had developed her particular brand of superpowers.

"You can use the Canary Cry?" she asked, astonished.

I shrugged, "From what I can tell, it sounded different from both yours and Bucky's, but... yeah."

I could instantly tell that she was trying desperately to hide her smile. "That's amazing! I got it from my own mother. I had always wondered if you'd ever even develop it, but I never really expected you to at such an old age." I squirmed a little under the interest she showed in it. She looked away, deep in thought, "I wonder if it developed on it's own, or if it was triggered as a sort of defense mechanism from the stress and trauma you received."

The memory of electric shocks from inside of the pod flashed through my head. I twitched as of the electrodes were still stabbing into my chest. "I-I don't know..."

Dinah's eyes fixated on me. When they did, they welled with sorrow. "I'm sorry, Tommy. I don't mean to bring it up."

I shook the memory of the feeling out of my head and stared at her emotionless, like I had been trained to. "It's fine. It's necessary."

My attempt to relax Dinah only seemed to make her feel worse. Though she was great at hiding it, I could still tell that the whole topic of my past troubled her. Not just what happened on the Reach ship, but also what I was raised to be. What I had been apart of.

I could feel my fists clench uneasily. "May I go?" I asked.

She straightened in her seat. "Alright." She reached out and turned off the camera. "I need you to wait in the hall for now."

I frowned. "Yeah, OK."

I stood up to leave. Dinah walked me to the door. I hesitated before opening it.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

Spinning around, I wrapped my arms around her again in a quick embrace. "Thanks."

For a moment, she seemed so stunned that she couldn't move. Once she recovered from the shock, she returned my hug. When we pulled away from each other, we connected gazes. As if by Martian telepathy, we both simultaneously wiped all emotion from our faces. She opened the door and let me out into the hallway. Before they all averted their gazes, I noticed everyone staring in my direction. Taking a step out, she turned to the runaways. "Edwardo?" The Latino boy stood up and walked past me into the office.

I looked from each of the runaways to BB, Impulse, Blue and Lagoon Boy. Out of all of them, only Lagoon Boy held my gaze. He glared at me as if uncertain of how to treat me. He looked like he wanted to either beat me to a pulp, or ignore me all together. I returned his hard look with one of my own. Finally, he looked down with a scowl. I ignored them all and started walking down the hall.

"Hey, Speedy! Where are you going?" Impulse called after me.

"Probably to meet with his real teammate," Lagoon Boy replied.

I stopped abruptly in the middle of the hall. Without looking back, I growled, "What are you implying?"

"I'm not implying anything, _chum_ ," he said.

"I don't have time to argue with you," I dismissed.

"No, you should hurry, she's probably waiting for you," Lagoon Boy snapped.

Despite my attempts to hide it, I could feel my body become tense. Before I could hit him, I stormed off to the Zeta-tubes. Behind me I could hear Virgil complaining about why I got to leave if he couldn't.

* * *

 **|WASHINGTON D.C.  
** **|April 1, 21:19 EDT**

 **"Recognized: Speedy, B-2-3."**

I stepped out of the Zeta-tube and jogged down the hall into the library where Mal, Karen, M'gann, Conner, Zatanna and Shazam were all busying themselves with something or another. I ran up to M'gann who looked to be organizing a box of her things from Mt. Justice. Or, what could be saved.

"M'gann!" I called.

"Tommy," she exclaimed surprised. "I thought you were supposed to be at S.T.A.R. Labs. With the others abductees."

"I was," I told her.

Her eyes widened. "You all finished already? That was quick. Where's Garfield? Is he with-"

"Where's Rose?" I asked her in a hushed tone.

She paused for a moment, either upset at me interrupting her or something else. I couldn't tell. "She's in Bludhaven with Nightwing right now."

"Did you already read her mind?" I asked.

At the mention of it, she recoiled a bit. "Um, no. I wasn't able to. Nightwing is questioning her."

I gaped at her. Something in me burned. "You weren't able to? What do you mean? You could read my mind just fine."

She opened her mouth to speak but before she could explain, a loud beeping noise sounded from just outside the building. As the only two Leaguers there, Shazam and Zatanna rushed outside, while everyone else gathered around the computer. I grabbed M'gann's wrist before she could walk away.

"What happened with Rose? Why couldn't you read her mind?" I asked.

Out of nowhere, a robotic voice began to call out to us in a very dramatic fashion. "Greetings and salutationisms, Earth champions!"

M'gann turned to me and said, "We can talk about this later. Right now we need to find out what that is."

I released my grip on her wrist, though not without voicing my irritation with a loud growl of protest.

Karen pulled up the cameras for the front door where a small flying robot floated down and bowed. "I am L-Ron, major domo to the great master, and you are my prisoners."

"This is Plastic Man's April Fool's joke, isn't it?" Shazam laughed. "OK, Plas, you got us!"

"No, I've got you," The robot said, sounding a bit confused. He pressed a button on his arm and a large red pyramid of lasers sealed the whole of the Hall of Justice off from the rest of the world. "Though not for myself of course. Rather, I hold you at the behest of my master, who seeks to prove himself against Earth's greatest warriors."

As L-Ron spoke, a massive, purple alien, with a large fin on his head, clad in blue armor appeared in front of him. With one kick he sent Shazam soaring through the glass of the front doors and crashing to the floor hard enough to create a trench in the ground.

"How did-?" Conner exclaimed.

"This is going to be a helluva night," I sighed.

"Let the cage match begin!" L-Ron announced. "No fooling."

Zatanna tried to cast a spell on the alien, but before she could, a third eye opened on the alien's forehead and she suddenly went stood up straight, unmoving. The alien smashed through the front door and began approaching Shazam.

"Uh, should we help?" I asked.

"We can't go up there," Superboy said, "we're covert ops, meaning no one can see us. If he needs back up then we'll be forced to help, but until then we have to assume that Shazam can handle this guy."

"Allow me to introduce my master," L-Ron continued in his showman nature, "the warlord Despero! Gladiatorial champion of ninety two star systems. Working on ninety three right now. He has come to this _backwater_ planet seeking a challenge to prove his superiority to all life forms. It's quite the complementism. You really should feel honored."

"Am I the only one who hates both of these guys right now?" I asked.

"Nope," Mal groaned.

"Oh, I am," Shazam replied to L-Ron. "Here, let me show him."

Shazam flew forward and slammed Despero into the wall. Despero just hurled him up into the ceiling with ease.

"He needs back up," Superboy said.

"Guess so," I sighed.

Superboy, Bumblebee and I all rushed out to the lobby where they were fighting. When the main door to the inner wing opened, Shazam fell to the ground right in front of us. Despero looked to us and growled. I reached behind me to grab my bow and swore under my breath. I didn't stop by the Arrow Cave to grab my quiver before coming here from S.T.A.R. Labs. All I had was whatever was in my utility belt, which were mostly trick arrow-heads.

Superboy turned to Bumblebee. "Check on Zatanna. Speedy, you make sure Shazam's alright. Fin head's mine."

Superboy jumped at Despero to keep him busy. Bumblebee flew off towards Zatanna while I knelt down to see if Shazam was still conscious. He wasn't. I checked his pulse and was relieved that he was still alive, just knocked out. He stirred a bit and I tapped him on his cheek.

"Hey, Sparky," I prodded.

He mumbled something that may have been, _"That was my cookie, Uncle Dudley!"_

"Huh, you're not going to be much help," I grumbled.

I looked up to see Bumblebee flying around Despero zapping him as he clashed with Superboy. He didn't even seem to be interested in her. Rustling through my belt, I found three boxing glove arrowheads, a flash-bang arrowhead, two grenade arrowheads, four smoke bomb arrowheads, a taser arrowhead, a grappling hook, one putty-trap arrowhead and a hunting knife. None of it would really be useful against big bad, but as a distraction... Though, none of them would go off without a hard impact force, and I did _not_ want to get in close enough to hit him with them by hand.

Next to me, a few meters away, I spotted something that might've helped. Running over to the display case with some old Justice Society of America's suit in it. It looked like a generic, brown three piece suit with a cape. fedora and a gas mask. The placard read "Sandman."

"Well, Mr. Sandman, I hope you'll understand what I'm about to do and learn to forgive me for it," I spoke to no one.

Taking the knife, I smashed open the glass case containing his suit and took the item that I was looking for, a small pistol like weapon. I quickly jammed the first boxing glove onto the barrel of the gun and turned to face Despero. He was in the process of beating Superboy into the ground.

"Hey ugly!" I shouted. He looked up and growled at me. "Say cheese!"

I fired the gun, not really knowing if my idea would work. I had no guarantee that the gun would even fire. Fortunately, I got lucky. The gun fired. The projectile that I had viciously jammed onto the front of it launched at Despero and deployed in mid air. Despero got hit square in the face with an inflated boxing glove, and didn't bat an eye. On top of that, when the boxing glove launched, the gun spewed a mist of gas all around me. I quickly pulled out a gas mask of my own and put it on, but it was clear that the gun wasn't going to last for much more than three more shots. I had to make them count.

Despero began to walk towards me and away from Superboy. I quickly loaded one of the grenades onto the front of the gun and pointed it at him. He growled at me and began charging. I fired the grenade at him, satisfied to hear the _Click, Beep, Beep, Beep_ as it armed in mid air. It soared straight at his chest. Despero just swatted the projectile aside. It shot into the leg of Wonder Woman's statue and exploded, completely destroying the statue's supports. The massive stone Wonder Woman came tumbling down onto Despero.

"Uh... cool. That was completely deliberate," I announced.

"Foulism!" L-Ron shouted flying up to me. "Ranged weapons are forbidden in-"

I cut him off by slamming my taser arrowhead into his chest, disabling him for a moment. "You are so annoying!"

Suddenly the statue of Wonder Woman exploded into rubble, with only her head remaining. I flinched as bowling ball sized rocks came flying at me, but before they hit me, they collided with the solid chest of a large man in a red suit.

Shazam turned to face me with a grin, "He _is_ annoying."

Then he whooshed off at Despero. As they fought, I loaded my putty trap onto the front of the gun and aimed for Despero's feet. Right when I was about to fire, L-Ron slammed into my side, throwing the shot wide.

"You have no sense of sportism!" He shouted.

"Oh, shut up!" I growled.

I dashed forward toward the real conflict, ignoring Alpha, and hooked my flash-bang onto the front of the gun. Just as I got around the rubble of the statue, I was greeted by the sight of Despero smashing Shazam into the ground. I quickly finished hooking my attachment to the gun and pointed it at Despero. Although, I grossly misjudged how far away he was. He reached forward and crushed the gun I was holding in one large hand, with his other, he ripped my utility belt off and threw them both far out of reach.

"Uh... foulism?" I tried.

Before Despero could pummel me, Superboy came leaping in from out of nowhere and punched him in the face.

"OK, now what?" I mumbled to myself.

Despero grabbed and threw Superboy into the giant statue of Martian Manhunter which collapsed on top of him. L-Ron flew over and folded his arms over his chest.

"Not an impressive showing from you Earthlings thus far," he muttered.

I snarled at the little bot. "Oh, you're not impressed?" I walked up to stand right in front of Despero, staring him in the face.

"Speedy, no!" Bumblebee shouted.

"You're a gladiator, right?" I asked. Despero smirked at me, showing a mouthful of sharp, pointed teeth. "Well," I held my arms out to either side of me, "are you not entertained?!"

He reared back to punch me in the chest. If he had, I probably would've died. Before he could strike me though, I took a deep breath in, and roared at him.

 **"ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

The entirety of my body reverberated with the intensity of my cry. The blast of sound smashed into Despero and sent him airborne. He zoomed straight through the concrete wall behind him and crashed into the laser grid he was using to imprison us. Unfortunately, the ground around me began to destabilize. The very foundations of the Hall began to shake around me. The walls began to crack and split.

When I stopped, I ended up stumbling forward and just barely catching myself. It felt like someone had put my whole skeleton through a dry cycle in the most powerful dryer in the world. I immediately doubled over and began coughing sporadically. From behind me, Bumblebee grew back to normal size and supported me so that I didn't fall on my face.

"Wow, that was something," she said shocked.

I wiped the drool that I had coughed up from the corners of my mouth. "That was all I really got."

"Think it was enough?" She asked.

From outside came a loud roar of anger. "Nope," I wined.

Behind us, Miss Martian and Malcolm ran out from the inner wing just as Despero lept back through the hole he made going out. The center of his chest looked like he had been hit with a battering ram and he was leaking bright blue blood from several cuts on his chest. I seemed to actually leave a mark on him. He didn't like that.

I stood up and pushed Bumblebee, "Fill Miss M in. I'll distract him."

"He'll chew you up and spit you out!" She insisted.

"Nah, he can't catch me," I chuckled, "I'm Speedy."

I ran forward to confront Despero as he jumped at me. I pulled out one of my smoke bomb attachments. He landed right in front of me and pulled back to punch me. Before he could, I slid between his legs and slammed the smoke bomb on the ground to create cover. Black smoke started spewing from the capsule, engulfing us both. No sooner had the smoke created a decent cover, L-Ron floated above us and produced two massive fans from his body to blow it all away.

"Master, this one cheats! Remove him and move on to a more worthy challenge!" L-Ron insisted.

"Remove?" I asked.

Despero grabbed me by the throat and lifted me up. I tried to fight it, but his grip was like iron on my neck. He looked me in the eyes and snarled. His third eye slowly opened. I made sure to focus on his regular two, but that didn't seem to make a difference. Suddenly my whole body felt absurdly heavy. I couldn't move. I could feel a haze form over my mind. Then everything went blank.

* * *

 _"Zatanna? Billy? Tommy? Karen?"_

A voice called out to me in through the haze. I couldn't tell who it was. I couldn't respond. I was just... aware.

 _"It feels like there are blindfolds over your minds, and you need to help me remove them. Now!"_

* * *

I jolted upright gasping. It felt like I had just woken up from being awake somehow. Standing, I shook myself to make sure I was fully conscious. I was exactly where I had been when I passed out, which was actually kind of rare. Just across the shattered remains of the Hall of Justice's lobby, I saw a boy about my age stand up. He had shaggy black hair freckles and blue eyes.

I looked at him very confused, and he seemed to realize. "Uh, too much to explain... I'm Captain Marvel."

I quirked my head at him. "Who?"

"You know..." he stammered, " _'Shazam?'_ "

I paused, "You mean that's not your name?"

"What?" He asked confused. "No. That's just something I say."

"I thought you were just shouting your name all the time," I told him. He looked like he was rather annoyed at me.

"Wait, _that's_ your first question? Not 'how could a kid be Captain Marvel?'" He asked.

I shrugged at him, "My family can shatter concrete with our voices and we were just attacked by an alien Gladiator. I'm open to anything."

He nodded, "Fair enough."

A rumbling sounded deeper in the compound. "Scratch that," I corrected, "we're _currently being_ attacked by an alien Gladiator."

We both rushed towards the sounds of conflict echoing through the hall. We entered the library to see a massive hole in the floor.

From the hole, L-Ron's voice shouted, "Cheaters! Sneaks! Frauds! You will all suffer for your crimes!"

He had produced all sorts of weapons from his body and was pointing them at Miss M, Superboy, Bumble Bee and... Malcolm in the old Guardian suit?

The kid grinned at me and said, "Watch this." Before I could question him, he jumped into the hole, landing on L-Ron. "Let's try this again," he said.

 **"SHAZAM!"** His voice seemed to almost double and deepen. A crack of lightning struck him from out of nowhere. When the smoke cleared, Sha- Captain Marvel was standing over the droid's disembodied head in all of his chiseled glory.

"Poor sportism!" L-Ron's head shouted repeatedly. Symbols began to glow on his head like a count down.

"Uh oh," Captain Marvel gasped. He flew over to the others to protect them.

I turned to run, but before I got more than two steps the bomb went off. The shock wave was strong enough to throw me into the far wall of the library. I shook off the hit as quickly as I could; I didn't have time to waste. The explosion rocked the already damaged infrastructure of the Hall. Apparently, it was more than it could handle. The walls and ceiling began to crumble around me. I rushed out into the hallway, only for my escape rout to be cut off by a chunk of the ceiling caving in. Thinking quickly, I turned to get out a different way. I got three feet when a large section of the ceiling fell right on me. Pain erupted from my left side as a slab of concrete the size of a twin bed slammed into my leg and pinned me down. Stabbing pain surged from my leg. Blood began to pour from the cracks in the concrete pinning my leg. I had gotten impaled with a piece of steel rebar. I began to pull with all of my might to try and free myself. The concrete wouldn't budge. I tried again to pull my leg free, again nothing. A large chunk of rubble slammed into my left shoulder with a sickening _SNAP!_

I shouted in agony as red hot pain washed over the entire left side of my body. I crumpled onto the rubble that had held me down. The thought crossed my mind that I should just stay and wait for everyone to find me. After all, they knew I was here. It wasn't like I was lost in the mountains.

The rubble began to settle around me. I let out a deep breath of gratitude. It looked like the rubble had stabilized around me. Then, it shifted. I felt a small piece of concrete hit me on the cheek. Hesitantly, I gazed above me. There was a massive spire of rubble right above me with great broken steel beams that had numerous razor sharp points aimed at me, and it was coming loose. If I stayed there, I was going to become a kebab.

Instantly I redoubled my attempts to escape. I thought of using my Canary Cry for a second, but then dismissed the idea. It would probably just destabilize the whole mound. I tried to reach the grenades in my belt but I couldn't move my left arm at all. Biting down on my lip to quell the shout raising inside of me, I twisted my body to reach around myself with my right arm. I could feel my bones grinding on each other. My teeth cut deep into my lip making me taste blood. I reached the other side of my belt to find that the grenades had fallen off at some point. Rage boiling up inside of me, I took my hunting knife in my right hand and began to stab at the concrete that had trapped me. The knife just bounced off the hard rock.

"Hey!" I shouted. "Anybody! I'm in here!"

The spire of death above me shifted again, slipping closer and closer to me. I began to stab at the concrete with more and more vigor, and more desperation. Finally I raised the knife to stab at the pile again and stopped. The concrete wouldn't be affected by my knife... but my leg would.

A second passed as I considered the ramifications of my idea.

Then two.

Then three.

The spire shifted above me again, causing more rubble to fall on me. I looked up just in time for it to fully slip and fall towards me.

My body reacted before my mind.

 **"** **ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

I shouted as loud and hard as I could. Before my eyes, the forty ton mass of my personal destruction slowed its decent to kill me. Slowly, agonizingly slowly, it began to stop and hover in place. But it was only for a moment. It began to gradually move down closer and closer towards me.

In desperation, something in me clicked and I shouted louder.

 ** _"RROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"_**

Cracks began to spiderweb along the enormous mass of rock bearing down on me. Then, in an instant, all of the rubble around me that was over my head gloriously exploded outwardly into tiny harmless bits.

My head fell forward as I began coughing horribly. With each breath that I took in, I could only haggardly cough the air out of my body. I tried to stifle my outbursts with my hand but it didn't really help. When I finally did stop coughing, I pulled my hand away to see blood on it, though I assumed that it was just from my cut lip. My entire chin was covered in blood from it.

"Wow, you really can shatter concr-" a deep male voice called from above me.

I looked up to see Captain Marvel, Conner and M'gann staring down at me.

"Tommy!" M'gann shouted with concern.

"Hey guys..." I muttered, my vision beginning to fade in and out.

M'gann flew down to me and telekinetically lifted the slab of concrete off of me, taking the rebar out of my leg with it. I winced as she floated me up to the others.

"Tommy..." Conner trailed off.

"Heh," I chuckled, "some of us aren't bullet, or in this case, building proof."

Captain Marvel glared at the ground and swore. M'gann supported my weight as she began to wrap a piece of her cape tightly around my leg over the large wound in it.

"We need to get you to a hospital," she assessed.

I scoffed, "Never really liked 'em."

"Wasn't a question," she insisted.

"Yeah... OK..." I murmured. That was all I could manage before my vision completely faded to black.

* * *

 **AN:** I don't really have anything to say, this is more out of habit than anything else. And as always, thank you for reading.


	12. Chapter 12: True Colors

**AN:** I'm BAAAAAACK! BUY MY BOOK! (Read my Announcement post)

 **DISCLAIMER:** **I DON't OWN THIS STUFFS!**

* * *

 **|STAR CITY, ARROW CAVE  
|April 8, 05:56 PDT**

I rolled my shoulder over and over again for the fourth time since waking up to make sure that it was working properly again. With a quick crack of my neck, I decided that I had no more carryover injuries from the attack on the Hall of Justice, I guess it was now more accurate to say the 'Rubble of Justice,' by Despero and his irritating drone.

"You sure you're ready to go back out in the field?" Oliver asked through a yawn.

I smirked to myself as I hooked my quiver over my shoulder and checked my bow. "Go back to bed, Oliver. I'm fine."

"I just don't want to hear about you getting hurt worse because you should've been resting," he protested.

I tossed him a careless smile, "I said I'm fine, old man."

He snorted, "I don't know how you could be. You were really messed up. Hell, a whole _building_ fell on you!"

I laughed thoughtlessly, "I heal really fast."

He sauntered up to me, still in a bathrobe and pajamas. Without warning, he punched me in the left arm, hard. Pain shot through my left side as pins and needles shot through my body. I bit down on my own teeth to prevent myself from crying out. I took a deep breath and glared up at him.

"Hey!" I complained.

"Hmph, evidently so," he muttered. With a frown, he added, "Maybe give yourself a few more days to recover. Just to make sure you're back up to one hundred percent?"

I shook my head, "I said 'I'm fine.'"

Oliver just frowned again, "I can't have you getting injured further. Dinah would _kill_ me!"

I gave him a push that was mostly playful and began punching in the coordinates for Blüdhaven into the Zeta-tube computer. "Don't worry about Dinah. I could lose an arm and she wouldn't notice if I didn't want her to."

Oliver placed the cup of coffee he had been sipping down on the desk and placed a hand over mine to stop me. "Tommy,"

Suddenly I realized just how insensitive what I had said was. "Oh... sorry. I didn't mean-"

"I'm just worried about you," Oliver told me.

A twinge of pain struck me in the chest as I looked into his sad blue eyes. I took his hand in a firm grip. "I'll be alright, Oliver."

His eyes still held every bit of anxiety and uncertainty that they had before, but he nodded. "Just be safe."

I smirked, "If I have to."

Olivier smiled and pressed a button on the computer and the Zeta-tube began to whirr to life. I threw my bow over my shoulder and began to descend the stairs towards it.

"I'm not going to miss my first official mission, and besides, Rose would kill me if I kept her waiting!" I called as I jogged through the tube.

* * *

 **|BLÜDHAVEN  
|April 8, 09:02 EDT**

"The question isn't whether our 'world's finest' are the galaxy's most wanted. It's not whether they've been using secret undercover covert operatives against targets of their own choosing. No. It's not even whether these interstellar hoodlums have their own watchtower in orbit over our planet. No, old G. Gordon proved all that a week ago didn't he? So the question is this, How long are you going to stand for this, and do nothing to check these lawless 'heroes?!' Ugh, well I'll just wait here for you to make up your minds. Take your time. If you're not in a hurry, why should I be?" The loud British man on the monitor reported. "Meanwhile, the Earth's true benefactors, the Reach, have been working openly and without fanfare for the betterment of all mankind. Exhibit A, Lexcorp Farms, where The Reach has partnered with noted philanthropist, Lex Luthor to increase food production. Lexcorp and The Reach are even allowing public tours. Trust, openness and an end to world hunger. Now, why didn't the Justice League think of that?"

"Obviously, any partnership between The Reach and Lex Luthor is bad news," Nightwing announced, "so Alpha Squad is going undercover to recon Lexcorp Farms."

In the shabby basement of the warehouse in Blüdhaven, Nightwing explained the mission to us. Us being, Superboy, Mal, Impulse, Blue Beetle, Lagoon Boy, myself and Robin.

"Robin, you're running Alpha," Nightwing concluded.

"Me? Run Alpha? Uh, right," Robin muttered uncertainly. I frowned at him. I was not envious. "Who's on the squad?"

"Blue Beetle-" Nightwing began.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Blue interrupted him. "I should not be in the field, ese. What if the scarab goes all 'Reach apocalypse' on us?"

"Your scarab has had multiple opportunities to betray us. It hasn't," Nightwing placed a hand on Blue's shoulder and gave him a smile, "and right now, it's connection to The Reach might be our best shot at identifying what they're up to."

"Well, if Blue's going, I'm going," Impulse interjected.

"I assumed as much," Nightwing smiled. He turned to me and added, "Speedy will also join you." I nodded, a bit apprehensive, but prepared. "And last but not least, Arsenal." Out of the shadows appeared the last person I expected. Roy Harper, in a new red and black suit, that reminded me a bit too much of my old one, with a buzz cut and several impressive looking weapons strapped to his back. His new metal arm was on full display for everyone to see. "But you both will have to travel lighter for your first mission. Nothing that won't fit under civilian clothes. Any questions?"

"We're sending _two_ new recruits on their first mission, _together_?" Lagoon boy asked. Arsenal and I exchanged a terse look.

"Both Arsenal and Speedy have proven themselves with their past working with Green Arrow, and Speedy helped us out during the rescue of the captured Reach abductees," Nightwing explained. "They're both highly trained in covert tactics."

Loon Boy dropped the topic, but I could still feel his eyes linger on me. I decided not to force the situation.

"I got a question," Roy asked, in what sounded to me like an intentionally deeper voice than I had heard him speak with before. "Why are we meeting in this dump?"

"With the Cave and the Hall of Justice destroyed, we don't have many other options," Nightwing told him, sounding a bit bitter if you asked me.

"Except the Watchtower," Arsenal countered. "It's national news now. You can't pretend it doesn't exist."

"Only Justice Leaguers and senior members of the Team are authorized for the Watchtower. You don't qualify," Nightwing informed him. I didn't see an issue with it. I was used to being told that I couldn't go places, and the last time that I went one of those places... well, you know.

"Good to know where we stand," Arsenal growled.

"If there are no further questions, then you are dismissed to go and prepare," Nightwing ordered.

As everyone left, a certain someone very bitterly, I approached Nightwing by myself as he was leaving. I was relieved to find him alone. "Nightwing, a moment?"

He turned to me and gave me a friendly, though a bit suspicious, smile, "What is it speedy?"

Hesitantly, I asked, "I was wondering about..."

"Yeah?" he asked.

I leaned in close and whispered, "Rose."

Nightwing sighed, a **GREAT** sign. "She's still... recuperating."

"Recuperating from what?" I asked, a bit impatient.

Nightwing subtly glanced over my shoulder at the others to see that they weren't listening in. "Speedy, she's still getting used to all this. Unlike _your_ situation, she left her father and brother behind when she... left. She's gonna need time to adjust."

"OK, but where is she?" I asked. "I want to talk to her."

Nightwing frowned at me. In a much quieter tone, he said, "Tommy, she needs some time."

I was beginning to realize what he was saying. "She... doesn't want to see me?"

Nightwing sighed, "I'm sorry, but that's what she wants right now."

A weight settled upon my chest. "I understand," I lied. I tried to understand, but it was a bit hard to not take personally.

He placed a hand on my chest, "It'll be OK, Speedy. She needs time to think."

"Yeah, OK," I muttered.

A bit awkwardly, Nightwing said, "For now, I think you should focus on your mission."

I nodded and walked away, trying to comprehend what was going through my head.

* * *

 **|SMALLVILLE  
|April 8, 16:38 CDT**

"Please remain seated at all times while the tram is in motion," our tour guide announced over the intercom of the tram as we rode through the Lexcorp Farms compound.

It all looked much more high tech than I had expected from a farm. Either The Reach had really upgraded this place or I was vastly mistaken at how farms looked and worked. I was _actually_ learning something! The tram entered a massive greenhouse on the property and everyone hopped off. There were about fourteen other civilians on the tour other than Jaime, Bart, Roy, Tim and me. It was really odd to see them all in civilian clothes. If I didn't know any better then I'd swear that they all looked like normal teenagers. Personally, I felt naked without my suit. Not to mention that I couldn't even bring my bow.

"We've just entered one of our farm's hydroponics domes where Lexcorp and The Reach are growing the food of the future!" The tour guide lady announced with gusto.

One of the other tour members, an older man, folded his arms over his chest, "This could put the rest of Smallville's farmers out of business."

"No, no! Not at all!" The tour guide assured, "The Reach plans to share their techniques with the entire agricultural community."

She then led everyone over to where display tables had been set out with samples of fruits and vegetables had been set out next to two large tanks that were pumping a suspicious pink liquid into the plants around us. "Please everyone, enjoy your choice of these new, vitamin-rich Reach-enhanced produce!"

"Genetically enhanced?" Tim asked.

"There's been no tinkering with genes, rest assured," our guide smiled. "The Reach have ways of drawing out an organism's full potential!"

I unconsciously shuttered when she said that. Tim gave each of us a slight nod. Pulling out a couple of plastic bags from my pockets, I began to bag up specimens to take back for analysis. As I placed a couple of horribly out of season avocados in a bag I couldn't help but growl to myself. This was bringing me no closer to Slade! What was the point of all this? Who cares if some people ate some funky alien enhanced fruit?!

A loud crunching noise disturbed my train of thought. I looked up to see Bart holding a large apple with a bite taken out of it. I just shook my head at him incredulously. Jaime, who was just next to us, also gave him a disapproving look.

"What? I'm maintaining cover," he defended, taking another bite.

"The entire reason we're here is to figure out of this stuff is toxic or not," I hissed at him.

"The way I see it, if The Reach wanted to outright kill everyone, they'd just blow everyone away from space. Right now they're trying to look like friendly ambassadors," he shrugged and took a third bite, "besides, I burn a _lot_ more calories than you do, so I don't need you judging me."

Tim approached the tour guide and gestured to the tubes of pink liquid. "What's in those tubes?"

"Just water, nutrients, and a little Reach/Lexcorp love!" She announced. She then began to walk back to the tram before we could ask her what she meant by 'Reach/Lexcorp love.' "Our next stop is the pluot orchard. That's right! Pluots! In April!"

Tim looked to the rest of us and ordered, "Time for a bathroom break."

We all began to move towards the bathrooms. All except for Bart who began following the tour group. "I went before we left."

Jaime had the good graces to grab him by his shirt and redirect him, though not without a complaint from Bart.

"Ah, dude, they don't have pluots in the future," he protested.

"I don't even know what a pluot is," I muttered.

"It's a cross bread of a plum and an apricot," Tim stated matter of factly.

I frowned, "I didn't mean that I cared."

Tim frowned back at me. "Ah..."

* * *

After anywhere between seven and twelve hours of hiding in the bathroom later, which gave me plenty of time to think up how we could've just infiltrated the compound at a later time and steal samples and surveillance tapes to make up for missing the tour, Impulse finally spoke all of our feelings into words.

"Ugh! Can we _please_ start the mission now?" He asked.

"Fine. Yes. Go," Robin sighed.

We all exited the bathroom stalls together in uniform, though Robin was wearing a different suit than what I had seen him in before. Where his suit was red was now dark gray.

"You're in the wrong mode," he told Impulse and me.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Dude, I crash all modes," Impulse smiled.

" _Stealth mode_ , hermanos," Blue informed us.

"What?" I repeated.

"Oh, right!" Impulse laughed. "Now where exactly did I..."

He began to start poking himself all over, looking for who knows what. Getting impatient with him, Blue jabbed him in the chest with his shoulder. Instantly his suit transformed, the red sections of his suit turning black and the white turning gray.

"Ow. Thanks," he complained bitterly.

"Whoa," I gaped. "How'd you do that?"

"Your suit doesn't do that?" Robin asked.

I shook my head, "I don't... think so."

"Where'd you get your suit?" Robin asked.

"I made it out of..." I trailed off looking at Arsenal.

"What?" He asked aggressively.

"I used an old..." I started again, feeling awkward.

"You used one of my old suits?" Arsenal finished.

I looked away, unsure why I felt so weird about that. "Yeah."

He narrowed his eyes at me and took a step towards me. Hesitantly, I took a step back, unsure of what he was about to do. Then, out of nowhere, he reared back and punched me in the center of my chest. I let out a grunt, more out of surprise than pain, as my whole suit changed to a very dark, black and gray color scheme.

"Uh, thanks?" I offered.

He smirked at me, "I'm surprised you didn't notice that while you were altering it."

"I wasn't sure what it was," I admit.

He patted me on the shoulder, a bit harder than I felt was necessary, and exited the bathroom.

"What's that guy's problem?" Impulse muttered.

"I have a few theories," I griped.

After we disabled the security system and set the cameras on a loop, which I could've done in my sleep, we found an access hatch which led down deeper into the compound. We took the liberty of letting ourselves in to find armed guards. Huh. 'Openness' was the word that I believe G. Gordon used. We silently maneuvered behind them, leaving them completely unaware that we were there. Down a few separate halls, we found more tanks of mysterious pink ooze, these ones being treated by Reach alien scientists. I glared at them, memories of electric shocks still fresh in my mind. The sound of their language as they spoke to each other alone was enough to make my throat sore.

"What's she saying?" Robin asked.

"OK, uh," Blue muttered, "She's warning her technicians to go easy on the 'additive.' Just a sec." His eyes glowed orange for a moment. He gestured to a bin filled with pink crystals. "That's it. That's your additive."

By the time he looked back, Robin was already gone. "Where did he-"

"Shh!" Arsenal hushed.

Robin snuck towards the bin, and without any of The Reach noticing, he grabbed a crystal and came back. "Got what we came for. Let's go," he announced.

"This feels almost too easy..." I murmured.

"Dude, you're never supposed to say that!" Impulse hissed.

Before we left, I noticed Arsenal doing something off to the side, but I couldn't tell what it was that he was doing. He noticed me and just smirked. I grimaced at him, honestly disturbed by his smile. We made our way back the way we had come, slowly working our way to our exit. We hid behind a wall of what looked like kale as we inspected our final door before we could leave.

"Two guards, one door hack and we're home free," Robin announced. Before he could move into position, Arsenal grabbed his shoulder. "What?"

"Wait for it," Arsenal replied with a smile.

"What the-?" I shouted.

"You blew the lab?!" Robin exclaimed, "But this was a covert op! What were you thinking?"

"That I'm not about to let Lex Luthor and his space alien buddies poison the world just because we don't know exactly what kind of poison they're using," he retorted, "Plus, I enjoy making Lex miserable."

Impulse rushed forwards and body checked the guards, knocking them out. He called, "All clear."

We all rushed to the door as Robin began hacking it.

"I can't believe you!" I growled.

"Don't give me crap, replacement," he barked.

" _Replacement?!_ " I snapped.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Robin chastized Arsenal, "You went off mission. That was a huge mistake."

"Funny, I was about to say the same thing," a deep, intimidating voice called from behind us.

We all turned just in time to see Black Beetle come surging toward the ground at us. We all rolled out of the way together, just avoiding becoming paste. Robin was the first to react. He whirled around, pulling out his collapsing staff and smacking Black across the face. He then powered on the stun gun on the tip and jammed it into Black's chest. Black just smacked the staff away and launched Robin into a rack of plants with one swipe.

I lept in, whipping out my retractable batons. I bashed him across the face and pummeled him in the chest. He let out a chuckle and grabbed me by the neck.

"That all you got meat?" he challenged.

"No, but I wasn't allowed to bring my bow!" I barked.

Black Beetle just laughed, "How primitive!"

Before I could argue, he threw me four meters, into an orange stand where I got covered in juice and wooden debris. Instantly I felt my side explode into intense pain. I grit my teeth and clenched my fists so that I wouldn't show how much that it hurt.

Impulse ran in and slammed Black across the face twice, but Black's eyes glowed orange for a moment and then he launched Impulse into a tomato stand.

"I may not move as fast as you, meat, but my scarab processes even faster than even you can run. Let alone think." He said.

Arsenal pressed a button on his prosthetic arm and fired a missile at Black. All it did was get his attention. Luckily, so did the tomatoes that Impulse threw at him.

"Now that's just a waste of good fruit," Black complained.

"No, that's just a distraction!" Impulse corrected.

Arsenal fiddled with his arm for a moment and then fired a laser at Black. It cut a deep gash across his chest as well as setting several planters on fire, but his armor just healed itself right over the gash.

"Any more tricks, meat?" Black growled.

"Just a few," Blue told him.

He landed from where he had flown into the air and blasted Black with a wave of hot plasma. He just took the blast as if it were an ocean wave at a beach.

"Ah, nothing like a warm plasma bath to calm the nerves..." Black mocked, "And clean off the tomato stains."

Blue quickly switched to a different weapon and sent a sonic blast at him. Black just made the same weapon and fired his own sonic blast back, canceling it out.

"Seriously? The fruit hurt more," Black laughed.

"Well, we've tried everything else," I said. "Everyone, cover your ears if you value your hearing!"

"Speedy, no!" Robin called.

I took a deep breath, and, **"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

It felt like my throat was ripping itself apart as I cried, but I put everything into the attack. Black Beetle actually seemed to struggle with the force of my voice. He slowly began to begin sliding backward. Cracks formed in his suit. They spiderwebbed their way across his chest and shoulders, moving up towards his head. He glared at me as I continued to roar at him. All around us echoed the sound of my screeching coupled with the sounds of cracking.

When I could no longer take the strain on my throat, I doubled over and began coughing up a storm. I was driven to my knees in a fit, just trying to breathe. Impulse rushed to my side to try and support me as I began to heave and wheeze. I coughed again and spat out phlegm and blood. Impulse began to vibrate his hand against my back, stimulating my lungs and making it a bit easier to breathe.

I stared at the small pool of blood just beneath me. A sense of terrifying wonder came over me. Bucky never coughed up blood when she used her cry. Not even when she was first using it. Sure, she didn't know how to control it at first, but she could still use it without any damage to herself. Meanwhile, I felt like I had just been put through a tumbler and I nearly blow out my own throat! I made a mental note to talk to Dinah about it.

"Thanks..." I sputtered to Impulse.

"You OK?" He asked.

"Define 'OK,'" I struggled.

"Everyone out, now!" Robin ordered.

I was about to say that we were doing our best when a very loud _CRIIIIIIICK_ captured my attention. Above us, the entire glass ceiling was coated in fractures and webs of cracks. It looked as though it were going to come crashing down at any moment. Blue just turned and blasted a hole in the wall next to us. Impulse passed me off to Blue and rushed out.

"Go! Go!" Robin ordered.

With Blue supporting me more than I'd have liked to admit, we all rushed out of the compound with the ceiling collapsing on top of a recovering Black Beetle behind us. As we exited, Impulse came rushing back to us.

"Did a quick recon," he announced. "You want the options? Cornfield or cornfield?"

"Cornfield," Robin answered. We all began to run through the crops.

"Way to go, screecher," Arsenal smirked at me, "I doubt that'll make Lex very happy."

"Shut up," I coughed.

"What? I was serious," he offered.

"I don't want to hear it!" I growled.

He glared at me. Getting in my face, he said, "Do you have a problem with me?"

I opened my mouth to reply but Robin answered for me. "No. He doesn't. Not right now, at least."

Robin fixed a firm look in my direction. "Fine," I agreed.

"Think that will keep him down long?" Impulse asked, looking back at the farm hopefully. From inside we could hear a loud growl and crashing noises.

"Not at all," Blue said.

"Keep moving!" Robin told us. We all began charging through the fields.

"Man, this guy just doesn't go down!" Impulse noted.

"Blue what gives?" Robin asked, "The last time you threw down with this guy you were hardcore!"

"That wasn't me," Blue explained. "Scarab was in control."

"So give it control again!" Arsenal told him.

"Believe me, I'd like nothing better, but I can't risk that," Blue said. "Not with Impulse's prophecy hanging over my head."

"Well, we wouldn't even be having this problem if Arsenal could just keep his bombs in his pants!" I hissed.

"Hey! Maybe if you could use your powers without destroying your own windpipe-" Arsenal shouted.

"Enough! Both of you!" Robin chided.

"It's _his_ fault that-" I began.

"That doesn't matter right now!" Robin said. "Right now we need to lose Black Beetle."

"That doesn't seem likely," Black's voice called down to us.

With a loud _THUD_ , he landed right in front of us. Blue Beetle began backing up, and backed up right into _another armored Reach soldier!_ THIS one came in green!

"How many colors do these guys come in, anyway?!" Impulse asked.

"Hopefully three," I sighed.

We all backed together, forming a ring with Black and Green Beetle on either side of us.

"Form up. If we go down, we go down fighting," Robin commanded.

"I'm betting that sounded may more inspirational in your head," Impulse said.

Black Beetle formed his left hand into a sword-like appendage to ready to attack us. On the other side of us, Green Beetle mirrored his actions. Then, to my absolute shock, Green Beetle lept completely over us and began to engage Black Beetle in combat! He sliced across his chest and then threw him backward. Black recovered decently quickly and charged Green. Green pointed his sword at the ground where a massive rock levitated into the air and hurled itself at Black. He just sliced through it and locked his swords, of which he now had two, with Green's, who produced a second to block Black's blades.

"Warrior! You dare attack me?" Black bellowed. "You scarab rejects are coming out of the woodwork tonight!"

"Better to be a reject than a slave!" Green shot back.

"Uh, this guy? Not in the history books," Impulse informed.

"Then who is he?" Blue asked. "What is he?"

Black and Green exchanged blades left and right. For a moment, it looked like Black was about to get a hit on Green, but then Green went intangible and Black's blades just passed right through him. Then Green's legs melded together to form a snake-like tail that wrapped around Black's legs to hold him down.

"Density-shifting, shape-shifting," Robin listed, "All the powers of a martian except-"

 _"Heroes of Earth!"_ A new voice called out in my head. _"I established this link to better coordinate our attack."_

 _"Telepathy,"_ Robin finished. _"That clinches it. This guy's the Blue, uh, Green Beetle of Mars."_

"So another alien?" Arsenal surmised. "Do we leave them to fight it out?"

"That... feels wrong," I muttered.

Black fired his rockets, launching Green off of him and into the cornfield and lighting the corn on fire.

 _"Isn't fire bad for Martians?"_ I asked.

Robin whipped held his bo-staff across his body defensively, _"Move in! Blue, keep Black busy. Impulse, put out the fire. Speedy, try and keep him distracted._ _Arsenal, use your laser on that plasma cannon. I want it out of commision."_

 _"Right. Be prepared to move,"_ he replied.

We all jumped in to help Green together. Blue flew in and began firing giant staples at Black. Impulse began running circles around the inferno, sucking the air away from the flames. I ran around to the side of Black and jammed my batons into the back of his knee, driving him down onto one knee. Arsenal rolled to the side and fired his arm laser at Black from his other side. Black turned and fired a blast of hot plasma at him, but he just rolled out of the way. Robin came running around the back of Black and threw one of his birdarangs at him. With two beeps warning, it exploded, throwing Black across the dirt.

"In for a penny," I sighed.

I rushed over to Black and stood over his prone body as he began to stand back up. There were several placed on him where his armor had been completely stripped away, revealing his thick carapace. I took a deep inhale, and quite a bit of satisfaction from noticing him flinch a bit.

 **"RWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"**

Black was smashed back into the dirt as a wave of sound exploded from my mouth and rocketed into him. The force was so great that he began to sink down into the ground as a crater slowly forme under him. All of the breaks in his armor peeled away even more. This time, I was able to force my mouth closed while screaming, but it felt like my teeth were rattling in their sockets as I did, and I was still coughing up a storm as I ran back to the others. When I pulled my hand away from my mouth, there was blood on my glove.

As I ran up to where Robin and Impulse were helping up Green. Behind me, I heard the horrible, deep echoing of Black's laughter as he stood back up.

 _"I was kinda hoping that might have had a more lasting effect,"_ Arsenal complained.

 _"Your methods are crude, but you have the right idea,"_ Green Beetle told us. _"Beetle of Earth, f_ _ire your sonic cannon at twenty-seven angstroms precisely."_

 _"Uh, my scarab's telling me that, 'that tactic will be ineffectual,"_ Blue replied. _"That's a quote, by the way."_

 _"For one scarab, the tactic would be ineffectual,"_ Green agreed. _"But tonight, it is not alone. Twenty-seven angstroms. Now."_

Blue formed his sonic gun on his arm and aimed it at black, letting out a loud attack that looked like it didn't do much of anything to him.

"Ha! Tickles," Black laughed as he continued his approach.

Then Green fired his attack, and it looked like it did more than tickle. Black's armor ripped itself apart, exposing the alien's ugly face. Black let out a cry of pain and collapsed. Hesitantly, I walked up and inspected the green-skinned creature. I couldn't help but marvel at the power they showed together. I began to wonder what it would be like to be able to fully control my voice. What kind of power could I wield. Definitely enough to take down Slade, to say the least.

 _"Scarab says he won't be unconscious long,"_ Blue told us.

 _"That is true,"_ Green confirmed.

 _"Then what do we do now?"_ Impulse asked.

 _"Now, we run!"_ Green responded.

Green held his hand out towards Robin, Arsenal and me. His eyes glowed orange and I felt myself go weightless. Then he flew off into the sky with us in tow. Blue grabbed onto Impulse and followed him.

I heard Impulse complaining in my head, _"Dude, what are you doing? Wherever we're going, I can totally get there first. Uh, where are we going?"_

* * *

An hour later and we were all in some barn thirty miles from Lexcorp Farms, though not nearly far enough if you asked me. I was still unsure about where we were, but I could see Nightwing and Superboy speaking with the owner of the barn off to the side of us all. They had shown up in the Bioship a few moments ago. The owner of the barn was one of the farmers from the tour oddly enough.

Green Beetle officially introduced himself to us, "My name is B'arzz O'oomm, and obviously, I am of Mars."

"Obviously, but it's the beetle thing that's got us wondering," Robin explained. "How are you connected to The Reach?"

Green looked to Blue, "I imagine my story is not dissimilar to yours. On Mars, I am what you would call an archaeologist. Two of your Earth years ago, I stumbled upon a scarab which attached itself to my person."

"Yeah, that last part sounds familiar," Blue laughed humorlessly.

"From the scarab, I learned of The Reach and their plan for the galaxy," Green continued, "Millennia ago, they sent out one scarab to every planet sporting primitive life. The scarab bonds with, and takes full control over its native host giving The Reach an advanced operative for their inevitable invasion."

"But my scarab malfunctioned, and didn't take full control," Blue stated, "That's why the reach wanted to reboot it, by killing me."

"So, did your scarab malfunction too?" Arsenal asked.

"No," Green told us, "but it was not prepared for the Martian physiology, which allowed me to take control of the scarab instead of the other way around."

"We're still missing one thing," I said, "why are you _here_?"

"For decades, the one you call Martian Manhunter has sent communications from your world to ours," Green explained. "Television signals. They are quite entertaining."

"All Martians love television," Robin smirked.

"So do all four-year-olds," I muttered.

"But when it became clear that The Reach were on Earth, I believed my assistance here would be required," Green said.

Nightwing seemed to take a moment to ponder the story. "The Justice League will need to confirm your story."

"But for now, thanks," Robin added.

Green bowed as a response. Nightwing took Robin to the side to speak with him. I purposely separated myself from the others, walking outside to stare at the stars. I tried not to think about anything, but there were still too many questions on my mind. I found myself unconsciously rubbing my neck.

"Hey!" An aggressive bark came from behind me. I turned to see Arsenal right behind me. I just flat out ignored him and turned away. "Hey!"

"What?" I growled.

"We gonna talk about the problem you have with me?" He asked.

"Why should we?" I grunted.

"Because you're starting to get on my nerves," he growled.

"You've been getting on my nerves since I first saw you," I retorted.

"What did I ever do to you?" He asked.

"Why do you care?" I asked, finally turning to look at him.

"I don't," he denied, "but you're starting to get in my way."

I stuck my face in his, "Then maybe you should stay out of my way!"

"You're the one who brought a building down on us," he pointed out. He grabbed a hold of my suit.

"You're the one who blew the lab!" I snapped, grabbing a hold of him.

"Having an interesting conversation?" A third voice announced itself.

We both turned to see Superboy standing in the doorway to the barn. Arsenal and I let go of each other, though none of the animosity was lost.

"You both done?" Superboy asked with a stern look.

Arsenal gave me one final glare and stormed off inside.

"What is _up_ with that guy?!" I snarled.

"He's been through a lot," Superboy muttered. "Being in a pod for a long time... it's not easy."

I stared at him. I knew almost nothing about him other than he was a clone of Superman. Though, growing up with Bucky, I had some experience with clones. Course, that didn't make me any more social... We just stared at each other for a moment.

"So, you think we can trust him?" He asked after a moment.

"Green Beetle?" I asked.

"Yeah," Superboy said. "How do you feel about him?"

I gaped at him. "You really want _my_ opinion?"

He shrugged, "Why not?"

"Well..." I muttered, "With my background and all... plus I just joined the Team..."

Superboy smirked at me, "Speedy, you're one of us now. There's a sort of unspoken rule when it comes to the Team, no matter where you come from, if you're willing to do good then you're welcome here."

I looked at the ground. "I don't really feel like that applies to me."

Superboy frowned at me. "Are you not willing to do good?"

I quickly threw up my hands, "No, it's not that. It's just... that's not exactly the reason that I joined the Team."

Again Superman just shrugged, "Whatever your reasons, you're one of us now."

"So was Aqualad," I blurted out. I didn't know why I said it, but I instantly regretted it.

Superboy's expression became dangerous. "Yes. He was. Why do you bring him up?"

I swallowed hard. "I don't know, I just..."

He placed a hand on my shoulder, "Don't worry, Speedy. We're not going to kick you out."

I frowned, "I didn't say-"

He held up his hand, "All of us have something in our past, what matters is what we do with our time now."

My brows pulled together. "I don't really know what that means."

He smiled, "You will."

I just shrugged. "Whatever."

He sighed, "Let's just get home. It's late."

"Yeah, alright," I agreed.

He led me off to the Bioship where everyone was already waiting for us.

* * *

 **AN:** OK! SO! Sorry again that it took me so long to write this chapter, but hey, I'm an adult and I have responsibilities. And a book! If you like my writing then you should buy it! It is one hundred percent self-written, edited and published (hence why it took so long) so it's not perfect, but it is something that I'm proud of. Read more about it in my Announcements post that I did. And as always, thank you for reading!


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